The Search For Darkness
by Sheep
Summary: Dark AU fic. Rated M for some VERY graphic chapters. History repeats itself, no matter if it's 10 years or 5000. Darkness creeps out of the corners of the world again and the Fellowship is needed to defeat it once more...
1. Prologue The End

Prologue - The End 

In the cracks of Mount Doom, Sam watched in horror as Frodo fell in pursuit of the Ring of Power, which the creature Gollum had stolen. Tears streamed down his face as he collapsed to the ground. "FRODO! NO!"

Outside, on the slopes of Mount Doom, an epic battle between the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth and the remnants of Sauron's evil waged on. Before the Ring was finally destroyed, the Free Peoples had lost almost all hope that evil would be eliminated from their world. Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn fought side by side in the horrific war. A pile of dead orcs lay at their feet as more came for their blood. At this time, all they were fighting for were each other and peace in Middle-Earth. The three of them had watched the young hobbits, Merry and Pippin, become slaughtered by hundreds of orc blades and arrows.

Aragorn sliced through the last orc's neck with the Sword of Kings and collapsed with exhaustion. In his preoccupation, he did not notice the final wave of orcs in the woods behind them.

"Aragorn, look out!" cried Gimli the Dwarf. He struck his axe into the orc's chest, but its blade was too fast for Gimli. He watched as the blade withdrew from his own chest as the orc fell to the ground. Blood blossomed from beneath his armour and he fell backwards into Aragorn's arms, dead.

Shocked by Gimli's death, Aragorn and Legolas let themselves become snatched by the jaws of death as the orc's squadron revealed themselves from the woods.

Sam pulled himself to his feet, still weak with grief and looked outside to the battlefield. Even from where he was, he could see Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. He watched in despair as they met a macabre death by a group of orcs. He knew then that he did not have any chance of returning to the Shire alive. He knew that Merry and Pippin were dead as well, since Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli died filled with grief and hopelessness. He knew that Gandalf would have fulfilled his purpose in this world after this war and would leave soon after. He knew that he now had no place in this world without the Fellowship, especially without Frodo.

Grimly, he walked to the edge of the fiery chasm of Mount Doom and looked down. With an empty void in his heart, he flung himself into the abyss of evil.

With the One Ring destroyed, Middle-Earth was rescued from the brink of destruction, but with a terrible price. Aragorn, the last of the Numenoreans, was gone, leaving the race of Men leaderless once more. The Elves of Mirkwood fell into grief with the loss of their Prince. The Dwarves mourned over Gimli's passing. The Shire was never the same when it learned that four noble Hobbits had died in a war for all of Middle-Earth, including the Shire. Gandalf did all he could after the war ended to comfort and console the world about its loss, but eventually, he too left the world.

With time, Middle-Earth recovered and went on with its life. Elves continued to leave for the Gray Havens; Hobbits continued to be ignored and ignored the rest of the land; Dwarves still hunted for treasure in their mountains; and Men grew in power with a new, chosen leader. Slowly, the story of the One Ring and the Fellowship of the Ring was considered a myth and was forgotten.

Little did the world know, the bond of the Fellowship was vital to Middle-Earth in the future. Although Sauron and his evil were destroyed, darkness was never truly gone from the world. Middle-Earth continued on for five thousand years in peace and evolved into a world almost devoid of true magic and had an absolute belief that it did not exist in the past. Men ruled the new Middle-Earth, but it needed more than Men to fight off the new evil that was lurking in the shadows. It had developed into a world just like ours; a world of greed and technology concealing the subtle magic of bravery, valour and friendship. Little did it know, darkness was awakening again and a Fellowship was needed…

--- ---

So, what'd you think? PLEASE Read and Review!


	2. The First Day of High School

Disclaimer: Forgot to put this up on the last chappie. I don't own Lord of the Rings or any of its affiliates. 

A/N: Just to tell you, Niner Freshman.

--- ---

Two large, slightly hairy feet belonging to a very tired 15-year-old boy came thumping down the stairs. It was 7:15 a.m. and he was forced out of his soft, comfortable bed for his breakfast.

"Freddie!" A woman's voice screeched from the kitchen. "Hurry up! You don't want to be late for the first day of school!"

"I know," he mumbled. He rubbed his eyes, which were usually big and blue when he was properly awake, and ran his fingers through his curly hair. "What's for breakfast?"

As Freddie Burgins ate his eggs and toast, he thought of what could be in store for him in his second year of high school. Almost immediately, an answer came to him from the back of his mind. He knew he would still get picked on by the bullies and jocks because he was such an easy target. Sure, he wasn't a niner anymore, but being 15 years old and not even reaching close to five feet tall tended to make him a liable target. This and many of his other unique attributes.

Just as he was starting on his glass of milk, a news report came onto the radio, which his mother always turns on in the morning.

"Many reports have been made in the countryside of an unusual phenomenon," the reporter broadcasted. "There have been several eyewitness accounts of 'moving trees'. Strangely enough, people have been saying that some of their trees move from place to place. Because there have been no videotapes or digital recordings of these walking trees, officials are dismissing this spectacle as a result of impaired perception.

"On a similar note, one Dr. Gabriel Lewis reports that she has uncovered evidence of a culture dating back to before or when recorded history began. She believes that this ancient culture had lived in the trees, but was not simians. Again, no hard evidence has been produced and this too is regarded in harsh criticism..."

Freddie laughed. "Walking trees and ancient humans that live in them. Man, the news today..."

"Freddie..." His mother stared at him over her coffee mug.

"I'm going, I'm going."

He dressed himself with some new clothes, grabbed his bag and his keys, said good-bye to his mom and ran out the door. He met up with his best friend, Samuel Gamlin. They first met each other when they were children at the local day care center and have been close friends ever since. In their high school life, they often got shoved into adjacent lockers together. Their friendship strengthened when they both stopped growing at around 4'9" and when they became close friends with Martin Bridgewater and Peter Townsend, who were also vertically challenged. The two other boys were cousins of Freddie, so he had already know them since they were born. In school, they rarely saw each other because their classes were usually far apart. Freddie hoped that this year would be different.

"Took you long enough, Fred," Sam greeted him as they started to walk to school. Their high school, S. J. Carnil School was within their walking distance. "I've been waiting here for half an hour, you know."

"Bullshit," retaliated Freddie. "I'll bet you weren't even waiting for five minutes."

"That seems like half an hour when you're waiting for someone to get his ass out the door so you don't get into trouble with Topping for being late." Samuel, commonly known as Sam, was usually a nice guy to the majority of the student body. But, Freddie always had the honour of hanging out with his smart-ass side as well. In addition, Freddie was the only person he would be obnoxious to. He was careful with his words and gentle to all kinds of life. That's probably why he was constantly stuffed into his locker during his lunch period.

Once they got to their high school, they were directed into the Upper Gym to find their homerooms. They looked through the various homeroom papers taped to the walls until they found their names.

"Look at that," Freddie remarked. "We're in the same homeroom. History class."

"What about Marty and Pete?"

"I don't see them on the list," he answered dejectedly. "Oh, well. Hopefully, we'll have some classes with them."

"Yeah, we'll need all the help we can get if we want to survive this year," Sam said. "Who the hell is Mr. Whitergray?"

"He's new here," a voice came from behind them. It was Aaron Strickland. Freddie and Sam knew him because he often helped to the two boys out of their lockers. They suspected that he had memorized their locker combinations by now. They were two of the few people who would talk to Aaron without thinking there was something seriously wrong with him. Nobody knew why, but Aaron was constantly surrounded by controversy because of his unseen, but sensed, abnormality. But, to Freddie and Sam, he was a perfectly nice guy. Aaron added, "I'm in his homeroom, too. So's Leo."

Leo, who's full name is Leonardo Grayfield, was another odd one. Although he was exceptionally good at athletics, he also had something weird about him. He wasn't a bad student, but his mind often wandered in class. He was very well known around the school for his handsome face and his long platinum blond hair. He and Aaron were most likely the two boys that the girls secretly had a crush on in the entire school. But, because of their lack of popularity, they were often uninvited to parties. Leo had a cousin the their school named Aiden.

Freddie looked around the gym. "Where is he, anyway?"

Aaron shrugged and grinned. This caused many girls nearby to drool and many guys to scowl. "I'm not completely sure, but I think I know why. I called him last night to remind him about school and he told me that his parents made him do something that he really didn't want to do."

"Oh?" Sam's eyebrows went up. "What'd he do?"

Aaron merely smirked and said nothing.

It was almost 8:45a.m. so the three boys went to class together. When they got to the classroom, they expected to see a young man fresh from teacher's college. Instead, Mr. Whitergray was an old man, well into his seventies, but was surprisingly as healthy as any one of the students. Under his wrinkles and silvered beard, the students could tell that he was a kind man. However, the stacks of books and papers on his desk told them that they should expect a lot of work from him.

"Whoa," Freddie said after sitting down in a desk next to Sam's.

"What?"

"Déjà vu. I know I haven't met Mr. Whitergray before, but I feel like we have."

"You got that feeling too?" Aaron asked. He sat behind Sam. "Good. I'm not the only one who's crazy, then."

"I would've said both of you were going nuts if I didn't get déjà vu, too," added Sam.

They pondered over this for a few minutes, until the bell rang, signalling the start of the school day. The class was filled, all except for the seat behind Freddie, which now belonged to Leo.

"Good morning, class," the wizened teacher began the day. "My name is Mr. Whitergray, and yes, I am new here at S. J. Carnil. Before I start class, I would like to take attendance. Lewis Anderson?"

"Here," a boy answered.

"Jose Araujo?"

"Here."

"Frederick Burgins?"

"Here, sir. But, I'd prefer if you'd call me Freddie, though."

Mr. Whitergray looked at him for a moment, as if he reminded the man of a forgotten memory. However, the look disappeared as quickly as it came and he continued with the roll call. The same expression showed up when he called Sam's name. Again, he continued as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Leonardo Grayfield?"

As if on cue, Leo burst into the classroom, out of breath and came to a stop by Whitergray's desk.

"I'm here," he panted as a bead of sweat rolled down from his temple. "I-- whew. I accidentally slept in. Sorry."

The class laughed at the exhausted teenage boy. Freddie couldn't help but wonder why Leo had a hat on. He simply couldn't remember when the last time Leo actually wore a hat.

"Since it's the first day of school, Mr. Grayfield, I'll overlook it. But, I'll have to ask you to take off the hat."

"M-my hat, sir?" Leo stammered as he sat down behind Freddie.

"Yes, your hat. It's against school regulations."

Leo bit his lip and immediately put on his puppy-eyes. "Please, sir? Can't I leave it on just for today? It's only a half day, anyway."

Aaron rolled his eyes in disbelief. He muttered, "it's only the first day of school and he's already begging the teachers..."

Mr. Whitergray gave in and continued the roll call once more. When he got to Aaron's name, he stopped completely. Something in his eyes lit up, like something in his mind awakened after being dormant for an extremely long time. His brow furrowed as something else came to mind. "Grayfield and Strickland...you two don't happen to be related to the big law firm downtown with your names, do you?"

At this, the two boys flushed and nodded. Leo spoke up, "Our dads founded and own the company."

"Yeah, those two are pretty loaded," interrupted Lewis. "A pretty good chunk of the town don't really like their families. And, no one here does anything 'cause everyone's afraid that they'll go off crying to their daddies. That's probably why Leo here wins all those archery competitions; everyone's afraid that they'll get sued for winning."

He laughed nastily with the rest of the class and poked Leo at the back of his head. Leo blushed even harder and clenched his fists.

Amid peals of laughter, Freddie distinctly heard Aaron say something that definitely wasn't English. He listened more carefully to his words.

"Nostasiidh, meldir," he said. "Nostasiidh."

Leo relaxed his fists and the colour of his face returned to normal. He muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "Hennaid, Aaron."

After the laughter died, class resumed as normal as the first day of school could be. The locker numbers and schedules were handed out, the usual first day pep talk was made and, pretty soon, the bell rang at noon to let the school out. Mr. Whitergray had already given them their history textbooks, so Freddie went to his locker to drop it and some notebooks off and put on his lock.

As he threw his history textbook onto the shelf, he felt a small hand on his back and it shoved him into his own locker. He heard the lock click outside as someone leaned onto the door.

"Comfy, Fred?"

"Marty, you better let me out," he threatened.

"Or what?" Marty laughed. "You'll sic Sam on me?"

"No, I'll tell your mom about your little escapade with Pete in the park with your brand-new pair of rollerblades. I don't think she'll like to hear about that."

Marty opened the locker and glowered at Freddie. "You're evil, you know that, right?"

Freddie stepped out of his locker. "Yeah, of course. You just noticed that now?"

Marty grinned and turned to walk away, but he came into contact with something very solid.

"Watch it, fucker! Oh, it's one of YOU, isn't it?" Marty's eyes widened as he recognized the wall he had bumped into as Jack Saunders, the school's elected asshole of their grade. His football player build was very useful in harassing those he felt like harassing. Coincidentally, he usually chose Freddie's little group.

"Why don't you ever watch where you're going, shrimp?" Jack raised his voice so everybody would know what was happening. He pushed poor Marty so hard that he fell onto the floor. "Aw, did the little baby fall down?"

He grabbed Freddie, who was helping Marty get up, and he grabbed Marty by the collar and proceeded to toss them into Freddie's open locker. But, before he could, a voice rang out through the hallway.

"Hey! Lay off, man. Pick on somebody your own size." Leo had just turned the corner and stopped Jack out of the goodness of his heart.

"You mean somebody like you?" Jack's eyes narrowed with menace.

Leo grinned. "I doubt we're close to the same size, but yeah, somebody like me."

"You're asking for it now, buddy." He dropped his two hostages and rolled up his sleeves. He swung his fist to hit Leo, but a hand shot out from nowhere to stop it.

"It's the first fucking day of school," the hand's owner said to him. "You WANT to get suspended this fast?"

Boris Donnolly was a close friend of Jack's and sometimes participated in bullying others. But, whenever Freddie saw him without his gang, he always had a sad, almost ashamed, expression on his face. When he was with his gang, however, his icy eyes were hard and stoic. At times, Freddie couldn't help but pity him.

At Boris' words, Jack put his fists down and unrolled his sleeves. He scowled at Leo and jabbed a finger at him.

"This isn't over, Grayfield," he snarled. "I don't care if I get slapped by a lawsuit; one day I'll shove one of those shafts so far up your butt you'll be seeing your own feathers." With that, he stormed down the hall with Boris following closely.

"I'll be waiting," Leo said coolly, unaffected by the threat. He made sure that Freddie and Marty were okay as the hallway resumed its usual chatter and movement. Once he was satisfied that they were fine, he said good-bye and went to find Aaron. "Bye, Marty. See ya, Frodo!"

Freddie whipped his head around to ask him what he had just called him. But, Leo was already swallowed by the sea of students.

"Did he just call you...Frodo?" Marty asked.

"Yeah, I think he did," he answered. "Weird thing is, it felt right..."

--- ---

"Nostasiidh, meldir" "Be at peace/calm down, friend."

"Hennaid, Aaron." "Thanks, Aaron."


	3. Whispers from the Past

Freddie and Sam went to class the next day tired and not so ready for school. They sat down in their desks and the school bell rang through the hallways and classrooms. Mr. Whitergray took attendance and began his class.

"But, before we begin, I'd like to ask Leo once more to take off his hat. I won't be so lenient today, Leo."

Leo sighed in resignation. He closed his eyes, and, ever so slowly, he took off his hat. His blond hair had been cut short but gelled in a very fashionable way. If anything, his short, spiked hair made him look hotter than he already was. But, it wasn't his hair that he was worried about.

His ears, which he normally kept under his hair, were clearly abnormal. Instead of ending in the usual curve, his ears had grown into a point, giving him a very peculiar look. The whole class sat in silence as they took in this extraordinary revolution.

"I was born like this," Leo whispered, breaking the silence. "No one knew why my ears turned out so…freaky. The doctors couldn't fix them because they said that it'll probably mess with my hearing if they did."

"Oh, my god," Lewis exclaimed. "He's a freak!"

Tears started to well up in Leo's eyes as appalled whispers flew around the class as a wave of gossip. Freddie turned around in his desk to look at him.

"Leo," he said. "Let me see properly."

A tear fell from Leo's eyes as he turned his head so Freddie could look at his distorted ears. To his surprise, Freddie gave him a warm smile.

"I like them," he said approvingly. "I don't know why, but you look better with pointy ears; makes you different."

"Come on, who wants to be normal, anyway?" Sam asked in an attempt to comfort him. "I think those ears are cool, man."

"Yeah." Aaron joined in. "Popularity's overrated, anyway. I mean, since when did we fit in here? We didn't care what they thought of us before, so why should we care now, huh?"

Leo smiled in relief and acceptation. He dried his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt and laughed in spite of himself.

"Yeah, that's true," he admitted. "I like my ears, too. I was just worried that you guys would think I'm a total freak or something...And, I don't care if everybody else thinks they're weird because I know they are and I'm proud of them. Does anybody have a problem with that?"

He directed that question to the class, which remained silent. He knew that they still thought that he was a freak, but he didn't care. He was a freak, but all that mattered to him was that his friends liked his freakiness.

"That's very good, Leo," Mr. Whitergray said. "But, this is a history class and not a class of self-discovery. Now, all of you, please turn to page 21 in your textbooks..."

Mr. Whitergray sat in contentment as he savoured the peace in the classroom as the students worked on some questions in the textbook. He glanced around the classroom to get familiar to the young faces. Neluni...James...Laura...Christine...Freddie...

When his eyes rested on Freddie, a flood of images flashed within his mind. Rolling hills, huge trees, and a river flowing through the fields. There were doors in the hills, put there as if something lived in the mounds of earth. Little people were walking and farming the land with simple tools. Ponies with carriages rattled over the dirt paths, past the hill-houses, to the windmills. An image of a particular hill-house with an ancient tree on top of it flashed brilliantly in his consciousness before it focused on two of the small people inside. They sat by the fireplace, laughing and talking. Their bare, hairy feet were propped up on stools and their curly heads turned to greet him.

Mr. Whitergray's eyes widened in shock.

_It can't be_, he thought. _Freddie...? And Samuel? No, something's telling me that they're not them...but still a part of them. Who are these little men? _A whisper from the past bubbled through his thoughts. _Hobbits...of the Shire. Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee of Bagend of Hobbiton._

The hobbits of his vision beamed at him as the images faded. His classroom swam back into focus and the vivid blue eyes of Freddie met his own. He marveled at the close resemblance of Freddie and the Hobbit that was called Frodo.

"Are you okay, sir?" Freddie asked him. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

He looked at Freddie, then at Sam. A voice inside of his head said, _I think I just might have..._

"I-I'm fine, Freddie. Thank you for your concern."

Freddie's head went down as he went back to work. Mr. Whitergray's eyes led him to the boy behind Freddie. Leo's eyes were unfocused as his mind wandered out of this world once more.

Like Freddie, Leo stirred up lost memories. A dark forest appeared in his mind with a warm campfire in the distance. Tall trees were all around him, telling him stories of the past. The fire drew nearer and illuminated tall, beautiful figures draped in cloaks and armed with bows and arrows. An image of a glorious underground hall that opened up to nature came into his mind. Everyone at the grand table that was set in an inner chamber of the magnificent palace had long, flowing hair and beautiful faces. Within the vision, Mr. Whitergray was quick to notice that they all had pointed ears. The people's attentions all focused to the stairway at the other side of the room. A tall, solemn man came down the stairs, taking his time to get to the table. The man stepped into the pool of light and his face was thrown out of the shadows.

Mr. Whitergray's heart skipped a beat when he saw the proud man's face.

_Leo Grayfield..._ His mind was paralyzed as the Leo in the vision looked at him. Like the man could sense his presence, he looked at him and shook his noble head. His eyes implored Mr. Whitergray to uncover the truth. Again, a whisper from the past spoke into his ear.

_Not Leo Grayfield,_ he thought. _Legolas Greenleaf of the Mirkwood Elves. A Prince and a warrior that had protected the goodness of the world._

Legolas smiled in congratulations and the vision ended. The classroom came back into mind and Mr. Whitergray regained the feeling in his legs and arms. He quickly wiped off his cold sweat and glanced at the clock above the classroom door. He was very surprised when he realized that a mere moment had passed when the visions of the Elves appeared in his mind.

After a few minutes' break to get him prepared, his eyes wandered again down the aisles. When he saw Aaron, a familiar jolt of an ancient memory being pulled out of thousands of years penetrated his mentality. This vision was more powerful than the others'.

An immense surge of images poured into his mind. A city that gleamed white in the sun; vast fields of marshland; a forest of hundreds of giant, wise trees with a whole city resting in the branches; a small town of wooden houses; and, finally, a secluded city in the valleys of a range of mountains. The trees in the valley city weren't nearly as old as the other forest in this vision, but still spoke of wisdom and experience. Mr. Whitergray was taken around the nature-friendly metropolis at a rapid speed. He saw glimpses of more elves in the city, but he knew that they were different than the elves that Legolas belonged to. Several times he saw the same female elf that looked remarkably like a student of S. J. Carnil. Before he could interpret what the elf-maiden's name was, another image flashed before his eyes. A sort of meeting was taking place on a dais outside an elegant mansion. He had just enough time to feel the seriousness of the assembly before he was taken to the garden. A somewhat dignified, rugged man stood on a bridge, waiting. The man turned around as if he had heard Whitergray coming.

Mr. Whitergray stood in awe for a moment, intimidated by the simple nobility and pureness of this man who stood in front of him. The man's eyes begged him to say his name. However, Mr. Whitergray couldn't think of who this man could be.

_You look...like a student I teach_, Mr. Whitergray thought to the man. The man smiled in a dispirited mood. _Aaron Strickland is the boy's name..._

The man smiled in amusement this time, when he heard the name. He pleaded him once more, desperately hoping that he'd recognize whom he was. Then, a whisper flew past his ear.

_Aragorn_, Mr. Whitergray thought. _You're Aragorn, Son of Arathorn, rightful heir to the throne of Gondor and King of Men. The little hobbits knew you as Strider, a name that they found the people of Bree called you._

Aragorn, too, grinned at Mr. Whitergray as the images vanished from his mind. But, instead of seeing his classroom again, he was back in the city that sat in the trees. An exquisite, golden elf came flowing down the stairs to meet him. She stopped in front of him to talk.

_You know who I am_, she thought to him. _And you know who some of the others are._

_You are Galadriel, Lady of Lothlorien_, he thought. _The others are those who did something that saved the world. I sensed it._

_I am Galadriel, and I know who I am_, she thought. _But, you don't know who you are and the others don't know who they are. You must find a way to awaken you and the others' souls before the Darkness comes, Gandalf! Only you can find a way to bring them back. I will be coming to see you in person very soon and I will help you. Watch for my arrival and I will answer any questions you may have. Be warned: the past will repeat itself very soon. Farewell..._

The vision ended and the school bell resonated through his buzzing brain. All the students filed out of the classroom, leaving Mr. Whitergray alone for a couple minutes.

"What was that?" He wondered aloud. "If that woman was right, what sort of evil calamity is going to happen? I must find out how to revive...the others and stop the Darkness..."

In a distant land, the shadows stir and Darkness awakens...

--- ---

A/N: Yay! I finally got some reference to a darkness! Thanks to all my reviewers, too! Remember: reviews are like Lay's chips. You can't get just one!


	4. A Death in the Forest

A/N/---/ means it's Freddie's writing. 

--- means it's Pete's writing.

--- ---

"What is up with that new teacher lately?"

"Who? Mr. Whitergray? Nobody really knows, you know. People say he kinda lost it when that rich kid, Grayfield, came out of the closet about his ears."

"Probably. Either way, Whitergray's class is really easy now, so no complaints here..."

Marty and Pete had been listening to the girls' conversation while they were eating lunch in the cafeteria. They had heard about Mr. Whitergray's behavior from Freddie and Sam beforehand.

"Huh," Pete commented. "So it's not just those guys who noticed it."

"I noticed it, too," Marty told him. "Whitergray had an On-Call for our math class today. I could swear that he kept looking at me like I was his long-lost son or something. It was really creepy."

"I'll bet," Pete muttered through his sandwich. He looked at his watch and got up to leave. "Last period's starting soon. I'll tell Freddie about this, if he's interested."

"What good will it do?" Marty joked. "He's already crazy, so this would just prove he has something that he obviously doesn't: a shred of sanity."

Pete laughed as Marty got all of his stuff together and followed Pete to his locker. They chatted a little bit about regular teenage guy things, like video games, girls, movies, girls, homework and girls. Eventually, a recent topic that was on the evening news came into their conversation as Pete went through his own locker.

"Hey, Pete," Marty said. "Did you watch the news last night?"

"No. Why?"

"There was something pretty interesting last night. Really weird," he added. "They were talking about walking trees out in the mountain range just outside of town."

Pete froze with his head in his locker. Something about theses walking trees disturbed something in his mind as well as his soul.

"Walking trees?" he managed to choke out as he tried to catch his breath. He momentarily forgot to breathe because he was so shocked.

"Yeah. That rang a bell with you, too?"

The warning bell sounded before Pete could get a chance to answer him. He quickly zipped up his bag and slammed his locker shut as Marty ran down the hallway to his own class. Pete skidded into his desk just as fifth period started.

"Right on time," Mrs. Walker, his English teacher, had watched him fly into his desk and sit down with perfect poise. When she wasn't looking, he put his head on his desk and took a deep breath.

Freddie chuckled as he pat his back. "You okay, man?"

Pete smiled and nodded. "Still not used to going up and down those stairs yet."

Mrs. Walker started droning about the structure and pattern about a humongous, long poem in their poetry textbooks and Pete started to feel his mind drift off into his own world. His eyes were closing when he felt a poke in his side.

Freddie pointed to the note on his desk. Discreetly, he opened it and read it.

/_Hey. Boring, isn't it_/

He scribbled down a reply and flicked it back to Freddie's desk. Freddie read his reply and a little conversation started.

_Gee, when'd you first noticed that? Before or after people started to snore? _

/_Haha. So how's your day been?_/

_ Not bad, not bad...heard some interesting news at lunch. _

/_Really? What was it?_/

_ You're not losing that last bit of sanity you're holding onto. _

Freddie glared at him when he read this.

/_Fuck you. What made you think that I can keep my sanity?_/

_ Other people noticed that Whitergray's been all weird. Congratulations! You, Sam, Aaron, Leo and Marty aren't the only ones who're going crazy! _

/_Fuck off! At least I've got some sanity to lose! But, we're not the only ones?_/

_Nope. I think this means that Whitergray's truly lost it. _

/_Him instead of us, huh? Hehe._/

Mrs. Walker had stopped talking and was writing down notes on the blackboard so Pete decided to get out his binder to make it look like he was working on copying down the notes on the board.

His pen was microns away from his and Freddie's piece of paper when something caught his eye out the window. It was a girl walking towards the forest that bordered the track and field yard in the distance. He watched her lithe body sneak towards the privacy of the trees. The girl, obviously a student skipping class, quickly disappeared into the shadows of the forest. Once she was gone, Pete then resumed writing a reply to Freddie.

About fifteen minutes had passed when Pete heard a distant, blood-curdling scream which reverberated through his ears. His blood can cold as the echoes of the unnerving shriek throbbed through his mind. He turned to Freddie and he saw that he, too, had heard it.

With eyes wide with terror, Freddie asked him in an undertone, "What the hell was that? I've NEVER heard anything like that."

He couldn't answer the question, but his stomach clenched at the possibility of who it might have been. No one else in their classroom must have noticed it because everybody else was still copying down the writing Mrs. Walker was putting on the blackboard. All but one person: Gary O'Dell.

Gary was looking at Pete with a fierce intensity in his eyes that always made Pete feel nervous when he looked at him. Gary wasn't tall, no more than 5'0", but his size and strength was still very intimidating. He was infamous to several groups and cliques for his ill temper and tendency to get into fights. Most people kept a distance from the volatile boy, but those who could keep his temper down had said that he was just a misunderstood boy with many hidden talents, especially when it came to creating things out of metals. Ever since the new school year started, he had been eyeing strangely at Pete and Freddie while they were in their English class.

Pete shifted nervously in his seat since he was fully aware that Gary was staring at him. He looked out the window and his stomach clenched again.

"I think I might know what that scream was," he told Freddie. "But I really don't want to be right..." Freddie's eyes were looking intently at him, searching for an answer. "Look; just meet me in the main hallway after school, okay? I want to check it out."

"Okay," came the reply. Freddie knew that this was majorly serious by Pete's grave tone. He truthfully couldn't remember when the last time Pete was so serious. He knew that whenever either Pete or Marty were serious, something horrible had happened.

After school, Pete, Freddie, Sam and Marty could have been seen crossing the track and field turf and approaching the dark forest. Pete and Freddie were telling Sam and Marty what they heard and what Pete thought it might have been.

"So you guys hear this god-awful scream from the forest which nobody else hears, and Pete thinks that it came from the girl who was skipping class to take a stroll through the woods," Marty summarized. "So IF it came from her, it'd mean that she was either terrorized or in incredible pain. Right?"

They all nodded silently as they stopped at the tree line.

"Then remind me, why are we going in and risking getting ourselves into trouble where we can't get out?"

"Because we're the only ones who knows she's there," answered Pete. "If it WAS her and she's in trouble, we're the only ones who can help her. Besides, it was Bridget Penney. You know, the cheerleader."

"OH. Well, okay, then. Why didn't you say that before? Lead on."

The four boys trudged through the forest that surrounded half the city. Their school was located at the very edge of the city and forest creatures often crept in and out of the sports fields. The forest itself grew on for miles around until it reached a wall of mountains. Various houses were here and there in the forest, but the nearest one was well out of walking distance.

"Weren't there rumours about those moving trees around here?" Marty asked.

"Yeah," replied Sam. "What, you think that a giant, walking tree happened to be strolling by the school and accidentally squished her?"

They all laughed quietly. The forest was ancient and the trees were tall and thick. They all thought that they could hear whispers in the wind as it rustled the leaves. The bodiless voices sounded curious and intrigued. The voices sounded like they were waiting for Marty's answer.

"No," he finally said. "Trees don't kill people unless they did something to anger them."

Silence fell so suddenly that the boys stopped in their tracks and listened. A sudden rustle of leaves to their left attracted their attention.

"Is it just me, or does that branch look like a hand?" Sam asked nervously. He pointed to a branch overhead with one hand and gripped Freddie's shoulder with the other. "Maybe I'm imagining this, but it looks like it's telling us to go to it."

Sure enough, the hand-like branch waved seducingly to the four boys. It beckoned them without a breath of wind in the air. Without saying a word, Pete slid off his bag and walked towards the small clearing the branch was hanging over. Marty followed him a second after, and Freddie and Sam followed, too, after a moment of hesitation.

Pete pushed through the thick bushes with Marty, Freddie and Sam closely behind him, yelling at him to slow down and wait for them. But, he ignored them and pushed forward with an indescribable urge to uncover the truth. As he crawled through the foliage, he wondered to himself why he trusted an illusion of a hand that was an ordinary branch. Something in his mind told him otherwise and interrupted his thoughts. Something familiar...A name? Or a thing that's been forgotten by him and others? Maybe it was both...What was it that it was trying to tell him?

Suddenly, the branches gave way and Pete was standing in an enclosed, isolated space in the woods. He stood there, frozen in place, when he saw what was hidden in the grove. The others came into the clearing behind him and they all stared into the dead, brown eyes of the girl who was called Bridget Penney.

Her body was beaten, slashed and hung open for all to see. Bruises covered her once-perfect body, especially her face and chest. He stomach was brutally cut open and the organs inside could be seen and were horribly mutilated. She hung from a branch with a rope tied tightly around her neck. Her ghostly eyes were partially open, forever looking at a world where her feet would never walk again. The only thing that could be heard as they looked at her maimed corpse was the constant dripping of her blood.

"I think I'm going to be sick," moaned Sam. He turned back into the bushes and the rest of the boys soon heard retching sounds. Marty noticed something peculiar on the other side of the glade. He walked towards it and picked it up.

"Marty, what is it?" Pete pulled his eyes away from the grotesque, mangled body to ask the question. Marty showed them a crude blade; rectangle in shape and sharpened only on one side of the metal. Blood stained the top half of the sword.

"Well, we've found the murder weapon," he observed. "But, who's the killer?"

"Maybe," Freddie said slowly. "It was that thing."

Pete and Marty gradually followed his petrified gaze to the branches above them. A severed head hung high above their own. The creature's other limbs and other body parts also hung in the surrounding trees. All were separate and all were dripping black blood onto the green blades of grass. The creature could have been human once, but none who were there could say what it was now. Its thick black skin was partially armored with metal; its face was pierced and stitched so many times it was hard to make out; but its mouth was the most terrifying part of the creature. It was open with amazement and its teeth were small and sharp. Red blood lingered on its lips and teeth.

The boys stood paralyzed in shock and fought to try to suppress the vomiting urge that was threatening to overtake them. After a few moments of absolute silence, they turned around and went back to the school. The proper authorities were notified and the body was picked up. The boys were all interrogated about the incident, and, luckily, were not accused of anything. Instead, they were thanked by the parents of Bridget for finding the body. After the corpse was taken to the morgue, the boys found themselves wondering why the creature's body was never mentioned...

Meanwhile, a Darkness grows stronger...


	5. The Awakening

Once again, Mr. Whitergray was monitoring the detention room after school. He finished reading the newspaper update about the mysterious death of Bridget. It had been almost two weeks since she died and half the school was still in a somber mood. The criminal investigators, professional analysts, and every person who was professionally involved couldn't find a single piece of evidence that revealed information about the girl's killer. The past article stated that the boys who found the body didn't see anything or anyone suspicious during their time in the forest. Mr. Whitergray saw them the day after they found her and something in their eyes told him otherwise.

Mr. Whitergray put aside the local section and continued to read the newspaper. The entertainment section caught his eye. Apparently, there was a touring archaeological exhibit that was starting in their city. It was being curated by Mr. Ralph Caledon and the artifacts were found and monitored by Dr. Gabriel Lewis.

The mid-thirties face of Dr. Gabriel looked at Mr. Whitergray with tranquility and great pride as she presented some artifacts for the newspaper. Even in the blurry picture of the newspaper, he could see the deep wisdom and power that showed through his eyes. The pools of knowledge and understanding called him to meet her.

The woman from the vision of the woods came up from his memory. _Watch for my arrival and I will answer any questions you may have._

Feverishly, he scanned through the article for the exhibit dates. At the end, the article stated that the exhibit was in town from that day to two weeks afterward. He looked at the clock and found that there was still fifteen minutes left until detention was over. He sat there momentarily in a state of indecision.

"You can go now, if you want," he addressed his prisoners. They looked at him in disbelief and didn't move. "Something has come up in my agenda. Or would you like to stay?"

At this, the students shrugged and got all their things. They left the classroom in silent confusion.

"Just don't tell anybody," he said as they filed out. He packed up all his things and left the school. The halls were empty and quiet, which was not unusual on a Friday afternoon. He got in his car and drove to the museum. On the way, it started to rain.

Thunder clapped as Mr. Whitergray splashed through puddles to cross the museum's threshold. He bought an exhibition ticket and wandered through the various glass cases that illuminated their precious contents. Elegant pieces of furniture sat behind velvet ropes; delicate pieces of jewelry glimmered in the spotlight of their individual cases; fragments of rocks that were assumed to used to be walls had exquisite paintings on them and were kept safe behind panels of plexiglass. The intricate patterns that covered the artifacts were fluid, graceful and timeless. The detail of the leaves and vines that blessed the bows and swords that were on display spoke of ancient cultures that were far more sophisticated that any of the cultures Mr. Whitergray had known before.

As Mr. Whitergray admired the exquisite artifacts, two men approached him.

"Excuse me," one of them said. "I apologize for interrupting your stay here, but Dr. Lewis would like to meet you."

Mr. Whitergray couldn't think of anything to say and merely nodded as his response. He followed the two imposing men to an upstairs private lounge. A young woman in her mid-thirties sat in one of the puffy chairs, waiting for him. She got up to greet him when he came in.

"Good evening." She held out her hand and he shook it. She stretched her hand to the armchairs. "Please, sit down. Would you like something to drink?"

"No, thank you," he declined as he sat down. She poured herself a small glass of white wine before she sat down beside him.

"As you probably know by now, I'm Dr. Gabriel Lewis."

"Pleased to meet you, doctor. I am Gerald Thomas Whitergray. You found all those beautiful artifacts down there?"

She smiled mysteriously. "Yes. All those and many more which are not available to be seen by the public. They can only be seen by the select few whom I personally choose."

She smiled again at Mr. Whitergray's anxious expression. She finished her glass of wine and put it back on the bar. "Please, Mr. Whitergray, follow me."

She led him down to the basement and through dark, shadowy corridors that seemed to be endless. While they walked, she told him about how she found the artifacts.

"When I was touring around the world," she was telling him, "I felt the inexplicable urge to travel to a forest that grew in the middle of a mountain range in middle Europe. I had to go into the dark forest on foot and by myself. Airplanes couldn't land close enough to the forest and cars could only take you so far into the rugged terrain of the mountains. Nobody would go with me at the time because I only had a feeling and that wasn't enough for most of my colleagues. But, my instincts guided me like the stars do on a dark night.

"I came to the middle of the forest, where a giant, graceful oak tree lived. As I approached it, I could almost feel the tree's essence. Its very soul seemed to be calling me and beckoning me to touch it. When I did, a great peacefulness washed over me; a peace and contentedness that I have never felt before in my life.

"When I opened my eyes, a single golden leaf fell from its branches. I thought I was hallucinating because the leaf shimmered and glowed like true gold in the dying sun. For an instant, I saw my reflection in the glimmer of the leaf.

"A beautiful, wise woman looked back at me. She was a queen among her people and ruled the forest I was standing in. The stars were her eyes and rays of sun were her hair. But, before I could get a better look at her, the leaf drifted away from me and taunted me as it danced around the ancient tree. I followed it to the side of one of the mountains and it rested in front of a boulder. It was quite obvious now that there was something behind the huge rock. I blasted the rock into pieces and uncovered a cave mouth. Inside--"

"Pardon me," interrupted Mr. Whitergray. They walked down the final corridor that ended in an elaborately decorated door. "But, if you don't mind me asking, why did you have a stick of dynamite with you?"

"In case of an emergency of some sort," she explained simply. She opened the door and darkness met them. "As I was saying, inside, I found these."

She flicked a switch and light flooded the entire room. A solitary metal basin sat in a concrete plinth which was the center of the private exhibit. Surrounding the stone sink were nine large cases with very different things in each case. They were all filled with marvelous items, but the case that was directly left of the center case interested him the most.

Inside the case, like most other cases, was a gray cloak lined with green cloth and a sword. But, what attracted his attention was the ring that was looking at him on a raised platform in the glass case. The rubies and crystals that were encrusted in the ring mesmerized Mr. Whitergray and he felt a powerful being come through his mind. Frightened, he suppressed the being within him.

"You feel it, don't you?" Dr. Lewis asked. "You feel that familiarity, that power, when you look at the ring. Don't reject it, Gandalf. That ring might very well be the key to unlocking yours and the Fellowship's souls from the past."

"Gandalf..." he said, almost to himself. "Yes... That was my name. Gandalf the Gray."

"Do you remember who you are?"

He said nothing and the alluring ring drew his gaze again. Dr. Lewis drew out her keys and opened the case. The glass panel swung open and gave Mr. Whitergray access to the contents within. He picked up the ring and admired it at every angle before he slipped it onto his finger.

For Mr. Whitergray, it was a sensation that he had never thought was possible. It was like he was living his whole life with amnesia all his life and he had finally got his memories back when the ring was on his finger. The realm of Middle-Earth and its forgotten cultures surfaced back into his mind. But a single event stood out the most. The War of the Ring dominated the urgent parts of his brain. The memories of the things that happened and the people who were most involved touched his heart. He was no longer just Gerald Thomas Whitergray. With the Ring of Fire, he transformed into Gandalf the White, a wise and powerful wizard of Middle-Earth.

Mr. Whitergray, now Gandalf, looked around the room with new eyes. He saw Dr. Lewis and recognized her for what she truly was.

"Galadriel. Thank you for bringing me back," he said and he shook his head in disbelief. "This world has changed so much..."

"Welcome back, Gandalf," she said warmly. "But, you do realize that your return has meaning?"

"I hoped that it didn't," he sighed. "I'm not familiar with the customs of this world. The Darkness comes again?"

"Yes. All over the world, strange events are happening. People are going missing without a trace. Mysterious deaths where the missing people are horribly killed and eaten are occurring. At first, the deaths were rare, but now, these deaths are all too common.

"But, there is hope. Do you, by any chance, remember the Fellowship?"

"Of course. I have to say that there are a few students in my class that strongly resemble them." He paused in memory of his old friends of the past.

"They don't only resemble them, Gandalf. They ARE the Fellowship. Their souls lived on through the ages, looking for each other and the evil they must defeat together if they want to finally rest in peace."

"They're the Fellowship?" Gandalf whispered in disbelief. "The students that I teach everyday and sit in desks in front of me are powerful defenders of Light?"

"Yes."

Galadriel took a metal jug and filled it with water from the small pool that was on the other side of the room. Slowly, she used it to fill the basin and told Gandalf to look into the bowl.

"You remember the Mirror of Galadriel, don't you? Through it, you can see the creatures who are terrorizing the world."

He peered into the Mirror and saw his reflection. After a minute, the water rippled and showed him dozens and dozens of ravaged bodies. Loud crying could have been heard over the snarls of hate and the swishing of cruel swords. Two creatures sauntered into the reflection.

"Orcs." He recognized one of the figures. "Someone has brought back the creatures from the dank pits of evil. But, the beast that the Orcs are leading is one I have never seen before in my life."

"No one has. They are a new breed of demons. Their claws are like swift daggers and their small, numerous teeth are like razors. These demons play with the victim before the orc leading it kills the victim. They pounce on their prey with their spring-loaded legs."

"They look somewhat like raptors," he compared. The Mirror's visions faded away. "But raptors were never that bony and malicious."

"Gandalf." Her tone turned ominous as he prepared himself. "A Darkness is threatening to take over once more. It will be more ruthless and destructive as Sauron." She looked deep into his eyes.

"It's coming for you."


	6. Creatures from the Forest

Leo pushed his way through the crowd and opened his locker. He zipped open his bag and started tossing the textbooks he didn't need onto his shelf. His bow and quiver sat at the bottom of his locker, next to some of his binders.

"Hey."

"Oh, hey, Aaron. What's up? How'd you get down here so fast?"

"I literally threw everything into my locker," he explained. He looked into Leo's locker and saw his bow. "When's the next time you're going to play with that?"

Leo grabbed his recurve bow and quiver of arrows and slammed his locker shut. "Right now. You coming?"

"Sure, if you'll come with me to get mine in my locker."

Grumbling, Leo agreed and followed Aaron to his locker. Aaron looked at him cockeyed as he picked up his own compound bow and arrows.

"You okay, man? It looks like you were handed shit today."

"I was. Motherfucking supply teacher for my goddamn homeroom just wouldn't fucking leave me alone! Then, in math class, that asshole, Jack, and his stupid gang of Neanderthals kept flicking shitty pieces of paper at me. On top of all that, my motorcycle hasn't come in yet!" Leo ended his rants with a huff.

"You ARE in a bad mood," Aaron commented as his shut his locker. "I haven't heard you swear like that since that big fight in grade 8."

"That's why I want to do some shooting. It calms me down enough so I don't have to go psycho on someone."

They made their way to the field next to the forest and began taking shots at the targets that were available in the equipment locker. They had each taken five shots when a girl sauntered onto the field.

"Hey, Leo!" She called to him as she came closer. He looked over and saw that it was his cousin, Aiden Evans. Good genes must have run in their family because she was also a vision of loveliness. Her wavy brown hair, which she often wore down, fell down her shoulders and flashed in the sun when she shook her head. Whenever Aiden was around, Aaron would suddenly get a little nervous and stumbled over his words.

"Aiden! Long time since I saw you around school," Leo greeted. He let his arrow fly from his bow. "Bull's eye. So, what do you want?"

"How very nice of you," she said sarcastically. "No small talk, even though I'm your ever-loving cousin." Leo laughed at he pulled back his string and took aim. "I just came here to watch you two shoot."

"That's it?" His arrow flew through the air.

"And your mom wanted me to tell you that your BMW's ready to be picked up. She tried calling your cell, but it wasn't on."

"That might've caused a bit of a problem," he chuckled.

"Hey, Leo," Aaron called. "We got company."

Jack and his gang, including Boris, were strutting towards them across the field. Boris was looking particularly sullen and worried as he walked on the grass. His eyes kept on darting from one side of the forest to the other, like he was expecting something to jump out of it and attack them at any time.

"Well, well, well," Jack sneered. "If it isn't one of Santa's elfs and his associate." Aiden caught his eye. "Hey, baby. How'd you like to hit it harder and faster than these two wimps?"

She looked at him as though he was unidentified slime on her shoe. "Like you'd be able to get that far," she shot back.

"Ooh," the crowd groaned. Every pair of eyes in the area turned to Jack to see what his reaction was. His jaw was tight, his eyes were narrow with anger and his fists were tightly balled. His short temper had been triggered after a long day of stress and everyone could tell that nothing was going to stop him.

"Don't think I'm going to go easy on you just because you're a girl," he growled. He drew his fist back to throw a punch, but Boris wasn't fast enough to stop it like last time. Instead, Aaron jumped in front of Aiden and took the blow.

Everyone stood still for a moment to fully register the situation. Jack, eager for a fight, just delivered a right hook to Aaron, one of the weird kids who nobody knew anything about. Everyone stayed where they were to see the end of the inevitable fight.

"Didn't your mom ever tell you to never hit a lady?" Aaron panted. He squared his shoulders and put up his fists.

"The pretty boy wants to fight," crowed Jack. "All right. Just don't crying to your mommy when I rearrange that face of yours."

Just like that, a fistfight broke out between them. Jack had the upper-body strength of a decent football player and had a mean punch, but he lacked the speed and agility to make him a good fighter. Aaron didn't have strength like Jack's, but his feet were quick and reliable, and his fists were fast and hard. At any given time, Aaron landed a rapid succession of hits before Jack knew what had happened.

Leo stood a few meters away from the brawl, watching. Aiden came and stood next to him.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" she shrilled. "He's going to get seriously hurt."

He scoffed. "No. I've done more damage to Aaron lots of times before. Anyway, the Jackass needs a good pounding to teach him a lesson."

A noise in the forest attracted his attention. As an instinct, he slid an arrow in his bow with lightening-fast reflexes. He pulled back his bowstring when he heard a distinct growl and clink of something on metal. He started to back away from the forest.

"Aiden. Get away from the fence. Don't make any sudden movements," he instructed. They both backed away slowly to the fight. The bushes rustled violently with faint screeching and growling behind it. All of a sudden, the shrubbery exploded and two vicious, spindly creatures destroyed the metal fence with their tearing claws.

Screams shook through the air around them as everybody scattered across the field. Aaron and Jack stopped fighting to see what was making them run away and they froze with fear when they saw the menacing beasts. Aiden clearly wanted to run away, but she couldn't bear to leave her cousin and Aaron in the clutches of the demons.

"Go, Aiden," Leo ordered. The creatures advanced towards them. "We'll be all right."

"But--"

"GO!"

She turned around and sprinted down the turf. The sudden movement attracted one of the creatures and it went screeching after her. The other one stayed back and hungrily eyed Aaron and Jack.

Leo took careful aim with his bow and released the arrow into the air. It whistled as it soared through the air and the arrowhead impaled the creature's body. But, it didn't die. It emitted a high-pitched shriek and turned to face Leo. Automatically, he drew another arrow and pulled back his bow.

But, before he could let it fly, the creature leaped through the air and positioned itself so that it fiendish feet would slice Leo into ribbons. Leo just as quickly took aim and released another arrow. It pierced through the creature's skull and it fell to the ground in a heap. It writhed in contempt until all the evil life had drained from its body.

Leo turned his attention to Jack and Aaron, who were having trouble with the remaining monster. Jack lay dead, eyes and mouth half-open in frozen terror, with his blood spilling onto the grass around him. Aaron was parrying the fiend's blows with a scrap piece of metal from the destroyed fence. He held the metal rod in his hands like an expert swordsman, although Leo had never seen him take sword lessons.

Aaron beat the monster to the ground and stood back from the body, panting and sweating. He saw Leo in the distance, horror and grief in his eyes. He didn't notice that the beast that he beat with the metal pole wasn't dead and was preparing to make a final surprise attack.

Boris noticed this as he looked out from around his hiding tree. He ran out, without thinking, to protect Aaron.

"Aragorn, look out!" he yelled. He pushed Aaron away from that spot just as the monster jumped up and buried its claws into the being in front of it. Boris was thrown onto the ground with the creature on top of him, claws deep into his chest. With a victory cry, it pulled them out, red blood dripping from its claws. A whistle came and an arrow appeared through the creature's head. It keeled over, off of Boris, dead.

Aaron ran to Boris' side, hoping that he might make it. Leo started running to them.

"Don't-don't worry, man," Aaron stammered. "The doctors will be able to get you back together, j-just hold on."

"No, Aragorn," Boris gasped. "It's too late. I can feel it. They won't be able to help me."

Leo arrived on the scene as he said those last words. "What? What do you mean? Don't give up, man! Hang on, they'll be here soon."

"No!" He coughed up blood. "My friends. Let me leave with a promise from you. Especially you, Aragorn." They both nodded. "Find the Horn of Gondor and The White Tree. Promise me that you'll do that."

Aragorn appeared in Aaron's mind for this important event. Aaron felt his wisdom, humbleness and virtue of him. When he appeared, for the first time in his life, he felt complete. It was like he was born with a missing piece of his soul and he had found it in the new being that was present.

"Boromir," Aaron, as Aragorn, solemnly said. "I give you my word, brother. I promise I will find the heart of Gondor again."

"And I'll help him," Leo added. "With any way that I can."

Boromir smiled weakly and chuckled. He looked up at the blue sky and left the mortal world once more.

In the distance, Leo could hear sirens coming to the school. He left Boromir's side to stand up and he could see the flashing red and blue lights of the police cars.

"Cops are coming," he said simply. "Staying or going?"

Aaron paused on the ground and blessed Boromir's soul into the next world. "Going. I have a feeling that we'll cause more trouble by staying. Let's go through the woods."

Aaron led him through the forest at a remarkable speed and with amazing silence. Aaron didn't take his quiver of arrows with him, so that obviously made his traveling easier, but Leo was always the swifter one of the two of them. It puzzled Leo as the went through the bushes.

"What's the matter, Legolas?" Aaron asked him as he had to catch up with him for the sixth time. "You were never this slow before. The forests were always places you outran me. But now..." He gained distance ahead of Leo again. "Now, you seem like you don't know where to walk. It's impossible for you, of all Elves, Legolas, to forget how to walk in a forest."

"What are you talking about, Aaron? I don't usually take strolls through the wild parts of the woods. And why are you calling me 'Legolas'?"

Aaron stopped walking right on a rock. He turned around to face him. For a fleeting moment, he looked straight into the eyes of a pure nobleman, not another teenager. Aaron frowned and shook his head.

"I don't know," he said pensively. "But is seemed so right..." He turned around to resume walking and immediately tripped over a large root. Cursing, he picked himself up and continued to walk through the foliage.

Leo let his feet guide him as his mind drifted off into his own world. He turned over the peculiar name in his head several times, like he was handling a forgotten family heirloom. It was new and exotic, yet old and familiar to him. Each time he thought of it, the name wrapped itself around him, stimulating his sense and disturbing a feeling inside him. Whenever it did that, he could almost feel the life of the forest. He could almost hear the trees talking to each other. Each time, he sensed a deeper spirit that lived in the forest.

"Leo."

Aaron's voice brought him away from his thoughts. The trees' voices were gone. The ancient spirit couldn't be sensed anymore.

"We're home."

They each went to their own homes, which were less than a block away from each other. Leo didn't hear his mother scream with relief when he came through the front door. Nor did he feel the tears of joy his parents laid on him as they hugged him. He could only hear a name in his ears and he could only feel a hidden part of him that nobody knew about.

Legolas...


	7. The Master Plots

A/N: The Neos that are mentioned later in the chapter are the species of demons that killed off Jack and Boris. They resemble the Bonethieves from Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem only Neos have two claws on their hands which are a lot shorter than the Bonethieves' and they have raptor-like feet.

--- ---

The TV turned on to the news.

"Two young boys met a violent death today at the local high school, S. J. Carnil School," the news anchor said. "Jack Saunders and Boris Donnolly were in the school field with their friends when mysterious, unknown creatures were reported to come out of the bordering forest and kill them. A student tells this story:..."

"We were just hanging out by the woods and, and this...THING jumped out of the woods," Lewis said in a panic, obviously still shocked by the experience. "All of us, except Jack, Aaron and Leo, ran like hell away from that place. The last thing I heard before I got to the street was the fence being torn apart and someone screaming."

"In light of these events, S. J. Carnil School will be closed to everybody except police and trained officials until further notice. The funerals of Jack Terrence Saundres and Boris David Donnolly will be tomorrow..."

The TV flickered off.

"Are you pleased of this, master?" A small creature huddled on the floor in front of the TV. Its luminous eyes reflected the dim lights like a cat's. It asked again in its raspy, hissing voice. "Master?"

"I am satisfied," replied a distorted voice. A shriveled hand clutched the TV remote on the armrest. A long, dark sleeve covered the rest of its arm. The being got up from the armchair and started to walk down a dark, dripping tunnel. "Only satisfied."

"But, but, master," the small creature questioned. It hobbled next to the dark figure like an obedient puppy. "What has gone wrong? We has done everything we could. We has achieved what we wanted. Yesss. And we would likes fishies now, Master. Nice, fresh fishies."

"No, Smeagol. We didn't do everything. Not everything that I wanted to be done. Everything has gone wrong since five thousand long years ago. You remember it, don't you, Smeagol? You were there."

Smeagol whimpered as he crawled along the cold stone. His eye twitched as he remembered what happened five millennia ago. "Yes, Master. We remembers it. We remembers it very well."

"Even though it was so long ago," the dark being muttered, almost to itself. "I can remember it like it was yesterday. You fell into the pit of fire in Mount Doom, with the One Ring firmly in your hands. I was there, waiting for my first taste of mortal blood. But, when you came into my arms, I knew that my time wasn't here yet. No. Sauron's power was undone and I needed that power to come into this world. So, I took your spirit into my power, manipulated it to my own needs and sent it into the future, when I would be ready to emerge and unleash my power. With my own magic, I made sure that a body similar to your old one was waiting for your spirit when you got here.

"I waited for what seemed to be an eternity, taking a steady amount of raw energy from the earth, growing stronger all the while I was biding my time underground. Then, you, Smeagol, came by to bring me out of my hellhole, even with a suitable body for me to live in. But, I'm still not ready." They came to a small chamber with yellowed papers with mystical, sinister writing on them strewn about. A door on the left was glowing with fire behind it. "I'm not ready. Not yet. Not until a sufficient army has been resurrected."

A resonating roar came from behind the door accompanied by a chorus of high-pitched shrieks. Smeagol cowered in fear by his master.

"Smeagol doesn't thing this is a good idea," he whimpered. "Smeagol doesn't think so at all."

"Smeagol may not agree with this," the twisted voice said. "But Gollum does. Gollum wants revenge to those who hurt him, doesn't he? He wants Frodo and Sam to scream in pain like he did in Mordor and Osgiliath. Am I right, Smeagol?"

Smeagol whimpered on the floor, not wanting to admit that his other half was so evil. Gollum overpowered Smeagol in their mind at the thought of the Hobbits being tortured by dozens of Orcs and Uruk-Hai.

"Yes," Gollum growled. "We wants it. We wants the cruel hobbits. We wants to tear at them, listen to their screams and watch them try to escape. We wants to watch them die. Just like we wants fishies."

Gollum's master opened a cabinet without a single movement of it's body. Inside the cabinet was a fish for Gollum.

"Eat it," his master said, slightly exasperated. Gollum bounded towards the dead fish and happily began to gnaw on it. "You're no use to me when you're constantly whining for food. Things would be much easier if I had a second helper, but that accursed elf-witch put a spell on the cloaks she had given to the Fellowship. That spell sent the body's spirit straight to the Afterworld, where even I can't go without using all my power. If that infuriating enchantment wasn't there, I'd have two more helpers. And you, Gollum, would have much more fun."

"Stupid Elf Queen and her stupid spell," sneered Gollum through his fish. "Frodo and his fat Hobbit would be here with us, helping Master in Master's plans, having lots of fun with us, if it weren't for Stupid Elf Queen and her spell."

"Yes," the Master drawled in its contorted voice. It busied itself with an archaic book and some potion vials. "If it weren't for Galadriel, I wouldn't be in this mess now. The Fellowship exists to this day. Their souls actually found the energy to come and live at this time, this crucial time in my plans.

"But, we do have some advantages over the Light. Do you know what they are, Gollum, my pet?"

Gollum threw away his bare fish skeleton and sat on the floor and thought. Finally, he said tentatively, "They's don't know that they're the Fellowship? And, and Master has already killed one of them, right?"

"Good, Gollum."

"But, Master," he continued. "What of the she-Elf? She is present in this time as well. She didn't have a spell cast on her."

"The girl, Aiden? Yes, her soul is of Arwen's, and yes, she didn't have an enchantment like Galadriel and the Fellowship, but her grief of Aragorn's death let her carry on. Spirits of Light draw their power from various sources, especially the force of love. But, she can also provide another advantage and be quite useful in my plan for domination."

"Advantage, Master?" Gollum hopped to his master and tried to read the book that rested on a stand. The words were indecipherable to his eyes. "How can the elf-girl be an advantage to us?"

"You ask too many questions, Gollum. Arwen's grief carried her soul to this era, but her memories will be much harder to recover. Galadriel's magic retained some memories of their old lives. Arwen will not remember so easily and so may prove to be a valuable asset against her own comrades.

"Come, Gollum. We must go down."

Gollum quickly forced Smeagol's mind in place of his own, much to Smeagol's dismay. The Master carried a large bottle filled with a dark, smoking liquid and opened the door. Smeagol gingerly peeked over the edge of the stone platform that stood right behind the iron door and he looked down into the dark pits within. All of a sudden, a fire burned brightly a few meters in front of him. He fell back onto his master's cloak in surprise. A foot nudged him back onto his feet.

The Master started to go down the stairs on their right with its cloak trailing behind it. The potion in its shriveled hand swished in the bottle with madness and anguish. The Master's distorted voice called out, "Keep up, Gollum! I won't say this again!"

Smeagol yelped in fear and quickly scurried beside his master. "Smeagol doesn't like this," he whispered. "This is too much like Barad-dur, Master. Reminds us of torture and pain, Master. Smeagol doesn't like this..."

The Master said nothing about his cowardice and continued down the stairs. Huge fires kept raging throughout the underground lair, shedding evil light on the surroundings. There was a vast field on the left that seemed to be forever writhing and bubbling with black Orcs tending the individual bubbles of sludge. Every now and then, a deep, booming roar came from the bubbling field and frightened the Orc workers there. Exactly parallel to the stairs was a dark tunnel sealed off by a gate and several burly Orc-guards. High-pitched screeching and snarls of anger with the swish of malicious claws could be heard through the gates. Glittering, red eyes stared through the darkness at the new figures coming down the stairs. Smeagol looked at them fearfully as he passed their cage.

"You have nothing to worry about, Smeagol." The warped voice carried a relatively soothing tone. "The Neos won't hurt you. Not unless I tell them to."

Smeagol gathered enough courage to make a face and stick his tongue out at the skeletal Neos. In response, several of the Neos slammed themselves against their cage in rage, showing him their bony undersides. Smeagol screamed and raced to his master's side for protection. His master took no visible heed and continued to drift down the dark hallway. On both sides of them, Orcs slaved away, making armor and weapons from the raw materials of the earth.

"Saruman's magic is strong," the Master commented. "It still works to this age. With his magic, I have brought back the terrible species back from the dead. This foolish world rejects the idea of magic and its awesome power, but because of their foolishness, the dark powers grow stronger than it would have in Middle-Earth. Do you know why, Smeagol?" He shook his head. "Because their belief sealed magic away for those who could use it. So now there is a great surplus of magic that I can use to make my army stronger and impervious from their feeble attacks."

"Master, where are we going?" Smeagol had noticed that they had been walking down the hallway for some time. Now, with each step, a sense of foreboding wrapped itself around him.

"We are going to make a small addition to the army's nourishment," the Master answered him in its twisted voice. It swirled the potion in its hand. "A small, but powerful, addition."

They entered a room where a solitary orc was working. Smeagol looked further down the hall and felt a great force of power emanating from the dark denizens of the lair. Inside the room, huge vats of unidentifiable liquids and large plates of very unappealing food sat on tables by the Orc, who was busy flitting from one pot to the other. He noticed their presence when Smeagol sniffed a nearby platter.

"Don't touch that!" the orc growled. "That's not for the likes of you to eat, vermin."

"Smeagol don't wants your filthy food. I's only wondering what kind of slime you're feeding Master's precious army."

"Oh! Master!" The Orc fell to his knees. He immediately adopted a softer tone. "Forgive me. What would you like to be done?"

The Master handed the black potion to him. The Orc looked at the potion quizzically. "Put this into the Orc's, Neo's and the army's sustenance. It will strengthen their natural defenses."

"Yes, Master," the Orc mumbled. He got up and started to add the brew into the vats of substances.

The Master silently turned and glided out of the room into the rough hallway. Smeagol didn't notice his master's absence until after a minute or two. He quickly ran out of the room and walked four-legged beside his master's cloak that was trailing along the floor. After a moment of quiet, the twisted voice broke the relative silence.

"You're wondering what kind of defenses I have I have equipped my ever-growing army, aren't you, Smeagol?"

"Master knows both Smeagol and Gollum well," he responded. "Will you tell us?"

"No," his master said after a small pause. "You will know soon enough. All you need to know right now is that my powerful army will disable their pitiful offensive and defensive attacks and it will overthrow this disgusting world of Men. That potion will shield them from everything that is not derived from magic. In this anti-sorcery world, this is the ultimate defense. I will tell you no more than that."

"Smeagol is happy with that, Master. This is enough for Gollum, too."

"Your curiosity will undoubtedly lead you into a trap. You must learn how to control it. Otherwise, you may meet a fate that is worse than your previous one. And you wouldn't even want your previous fate, would you?"

Smeagol shuddered involuntarily. "We's don't wants that, no. We'll be lots more careful from now on, Master."

"Good. I can't spare someone like you at the time. It would be unwise to be so careless while my plan is still in play." They came to the main hall and food was already being given out to the Orcs and the Neos. The sludge-like food that used to be in the vats were already being pumped through the field of growling slime bubbles. "But don't worry. At the rate which my plan is proceeding, the world shall be mine very soon. And no one, not even the fabled King of Men shall stop me..."

--- ---

A/N: That thing tends to ramble on quite a bit, doesn't it? So, I created a villain in this story and it's a classic obsessive bastard who plans on taking over the world. It's doing a pretty damn good job of it, too. Bringing back Orcs and Uruk-Hai and even making his own little creation... Anyway, REVIEW!


	8. Through the Museum Door

A/N: If you don't know what this cabriolet is, it's a convertible. And, if you want to see what Aaron's car is, search it on the internet. (Niiiice car!) 

New disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Rings, any of its affiliates or any brand that I mention in this fic. (I only wish.)

--- ---

Aaron was brushing his teeth when he heard the doorbell ring downstairs. He glanced at the bathroom clock by the sink. It read 10:30 a.m. He quickly wiped his mouth and ran down the stairs to open the door. Leo stood on the porch when he answered the door.

"You're half an hour early," Aaron told him as he let him in. "For once."

"I got ready faster than usual," Leo explained. He looked at Aaron, who was still in boxers and a loose sleeping shirt. He smiled and pointed to the corner of his mouth. "Toothpaste."

Aaron hastily rubbed it off with the back of his hand and went back up the stairs to finish washing up. Leo followed him and leaned against the banister.

"Take your time, man," he said as he watched Aaron wash his face like crazy. "It's not like we're in a rush or anything." A fly buzzed around his head.

"Yeah. And I guess no one's going to spend their no-school time at a museum because god forbid anybody should learn anything." Aaron left the bathroom and went into his own room to change, leaving Leo in the hallway. "So why are WE going?"

"Well, aside from the fact that we have nothing better to do with our time, that new exhibit looks pretty cool. To me, anyway," he added. He followed the buzzing fly intently and took a rubber band from his pocket.

"You know, sometimes, I can't figure you out," Aaron called from inside his room. "You get into a hell of a lot of trouble with other kids at school, even though a lot of people know you're a pretty nice guy."

"Only when I want to be," Leo interjected. "Just like you." He slipped the rubber band on his finger and drew it back with his other hand. The fly continued to buzz around the opposite wall.

"Yeah, but then you go off and do something that nobody expects you to do like actually volunteer to go to a museum exhibit." He came out of his room dressed in dark jeans, a white tank top and a dark green shirt, which he left unbuttoned. Leo let go of the elastic and the fly was splattered on the wall. He smirked at his near-perfect aim and looked at Aaron's outfit.

"Fashion biter," he accused. He was wearing khaki cargo pants, a black tank top and a dark blue shirt over it.

Aaron rolled his eyes and went back into his room. He came out a second later carrying a chain for his pants and a chain necklace. "Is this okay now, O royal pain-in-the-ass?"

"Yes, commoner." He noticed something as Aaron put on his chains. "Are you growing some face fuzz?"

"Yeah. Do you like it?"

"I think it looks okay on you. At least you don't look like Play-Doh smushed into a rug. But I don't think my opinion matters about it. I mean, I'm not the one who's kissing you. I leave that up to my cousin!" He laughed when Aaron turned a nice shade of red.

"Oh, shut up, Leo!" He scowled at him and went down the stairs to get his car keys.

Leo stayed at the top of the stairs and changed the pitch of his voice to imitate a girl's. "Oh, Aaron!" He ran down the stairs as girly as he could. "Kiss me, Aaron! I love you ever so much. You know you want to."

Aaron burst out laughing at Leo's little act and shoved his head. "I don't know what's going on in that little blond head of yours, but I don't play that way."

"Ah! That's not what you said last night!" Leo joked with him.

"Well, I'm sorry, Leo," he played along. They came up to a new Mercedes-Benz CLK 55 AMG cabriolet. He unlocked it with a key remote as he and Leo came closer. "You're just too femininely fucked up for me!"

"I'm not feminine!" He exclaimed as he got in.

They happily argued with each other in Aaron's brand-new silver Mercedes cabriolet as they drove through the city, which was hauntingly quiet. Almost a week had passed since Jack and Boris' funerals and the city had been on full alert for the creatures ever since.

"I have never seen downtown so quiet before," Aaron commented. They stopped at a red light a couple blocks away from the museum and only five cars passed by them at both ways. The few people that were walking on the streets were on the constant lookout for anything out of the ordinary. "It's so creepy."

"Well, you can't blame them," said Leo. "No one knows what those things are and where they're from. We don't even know what they are, but we've already killed a couple of them." Both of them sat in silence as they remembered the dark memory that happened a mere week ago. The police, of course, questioned them when they found out that they had been involved. They had both admitted that they had killed the creatures and were not charged with anything as of yet. The thought of that day still haunted their dreams at night.

The car behind them beeped at them.

"Oh, green light," Aaron muttered, snapping out of his dark thoughts. They parked in the museum's parking lot and went inside. The museum was still fairly busy. Kids on field trips were walking through the old building; tourist groups were pinning their museum badge on themselves as their cameras swung from their wrists; and, luckily, there were no teenagers in sight. As soon as they noticed this, a crowd moved, revealing a group of four boys.

"I can't believe you dragged me here," Sam complained. "It's not my mom who wants me to come and you've got Pete and Marty to keep you occupied."

"At least I have a good excuse to drag you here," Leo told Aaron. They went over to their group to greet them.

"Actually," Freddie was saying as he pinned the little badge on his collar, "your mom was quite impressed when I called to ask you to come. You would've gotten here either way, judging by the tone of her voice."

Aaron and Leo came up to them. "You see, you guys are lucky," said Aaron. "You guys came here because of your moms. I came here because of this joker can't come all by himself."

They all laughed and Leo pushed Aaron for revenge. He went off to buy the museum pass and the exhibit tickets for him and Aaron.

"You guys going to that special exhibit thing?" Aaron asked the four short boys in front of him as he waited for Leo. They each showed him their tickets.

"Our moms wanted us to get the FULL museum experience," Pete explained. "But, I wouldn't mind seeing some of those artifacts myself. They kind of remind me of something."

"Sure, why not?" Marty teased.

At that time, Leo came back with their tokens and tickets and they all went in together. They took their time going through the museum, examining the treasures the museum had to offer and making various jokes towards different people at different times. After lunch in the museum's cafeteria, they entered the special exhibit, where Dr. Gabriel Lewis' finds were housed.

The group of boys, especially Leo, admired the artifacts that sat behind the glass and behind the velvet ropes. The intricacy of the designs on the artifacts dazzled them as the fine lines winked at them in reflection of the bright lights. The designs, varying in pattern and theme, were on almost every piece in the exhibit. The statues that stood behind the velvet ropes were always graceful and full of nobility.

"Hey, Leo," Marty called as he checked out one of the statues. "These things have pointy ears like yours." There was no answer. "Leo?"

He was looking at a sword that rested horizontally on a wall on the other side of the exhibit. He was fascinated by a certain area of the sword. The patterns of the design weren't like the other ones he saw in the bowls and plates. The patterns almost seemed like characters and words in a sentence to him.

Without him noticing, a familiar feeling washed over him and he saw the design through new eyes.

"_Elin berio i min ya iuith si magli_," he read aloud. The person on his left looked at him with wide eyes. Leo looked at him cockeyed and pointed to the scripts on the sword. "It says right there: 'May the stars protect the one who uses this sword.'"

The man just looked at the sword for a brief second and walked away with a look of disbelief and thoughts about Leo being crazy. Aaron, who was on the right side of Leo, looked at him with amazement.

"What?" Leo asked when he saw Aaron's expression.

"How did you read that?" He asked in a shocked undertone. "Nobody in history has seen these things before, let alone understand what the inscriptions say! How can you read that?"

Leo looked at the sword again. The writing was still there and understandable through his eyes. "I really don't know, but I just can. The language just came to me. Why are you getting so hyped up, anyway? For all you know, I could've been lying."

"I know because I understood what you said," Aaron told him. Confusion showed through his eyes. "This doesn't make any sense."

At that moment, two men came out of the side door and approached them. They made the boys slightly intimidated because they were a fairly imposing build.

"Dr. Lewis would like to meet with you two," one of the men told them. The other one went to the other guys, who were still looking at the statue on the other side of the exhibit.

"Why does she want to see us?" Leo asked suspiciously. Aaron kept his eye on Freddie's group. Pete was clearly nervous because of the man and was cowering slightly behind Marty. In fact, all of them were quite nervous, but Freddie was the only one who was brave enough to talk to the man. Maybe it was his imagination, but Aaron thought that the man had a small smile on his lips. The man's attention was directed to a newcomer to the exhibit. Leo was busy talking to the man who was with them, so he turned to see who it was.

"This day keeps getting weirder and weirder," Aaron muttered. Gary O'Dell had just walked in and was peering into the glass with interest. The man who was talking to Freddie called Gary over and the whole group started to walk to the side door.

"Okay, fine, let's go," Leo said with finality in his tone. "Only because there's something going on here and I want to know what it is. BUT, if we get into any kind of trouble, you'll be hearing from our fathers."

"This way," the man directed. His lip twitched into a small, amused smile. He led the two boys upstairs to the lounge that Mr. Whitergray had been in about a week ago. Freddie, Sam, Pete and Gary were already there, sitting in the chairs, but Marty was examining the various drinks on the bar. The man who led Aaron and Leo left them in the lounge with the rest of the boys. Gary and Leo locked eyes for a moment and something at the back of Leo's mind tried to surface itself in his mind. He looked away, trying to interpret what was happening.

"Does anybody know why we're here?" Gary asked, breaking the silence. His gruff voice carried a hint of impatience and irritation.

They all shook their heads and shrugged in response. Leo and Aaron took some seats around the glass coffee table.

"This guy came up to us downstairs," said Leo. "Then he told us that Dr. Lewis wanted to see up for some reason. He didn't say why, though."

"Same thing happened to us. He probably doesn't even know," Freddie commented.

Everybody else was silent because they all picked up a sense of importance and urgency in Dr. Lewis' request. To them, it was quite similar to the feeling you'd get when you're waiting for the principal to deal judgment on something you just did.

"_Ai, Elbereth_," Leo sighed. "I hate waiting."

"You should be more careful of your language, young man." Dr. Lewis' soft voice came from another doorway, hidden in a corner. "And, I would like to ask you not to play with my bar."

"Sorry." Marty immediately stepped away from her bar, embarrassed.

Aaron stood up to introduce them. "Good afternoon, Dr. Lewis. I'm--"

"Aaron Strickland," she interrupted him. "I know what your names are, so there's no need to tell them to me. I'm sorry for my rudeness, but what I need to have done is incredibly urgent. Time is running out before this world is overthrown by Darkness again and the goodness of this world needs to be protected by the strongest holders of Light. I think all you know of whom I speak of."

Nervously, they looked at each other and pieced this part of the puzzle together.

"Are you saying that WE'RE the, umm... 'Holders of Light'?" Marty asked skeptically. "And that WE have to fight a force that's threatening to take over the world? Seven teenage boys against an army of Darkness?"

"Yes. But, you are not alone. A powerful being will be with you to keep the Darkness away. Gandalf the White will once again be joining you on your quest."

"Who?" they all asked at once.

"Me." The person they knew as Mr. Whitergray came out of the door.

"Oh, so we have seven teenagers and a teacher to fight the forces of evil," Marty said sarcastically. "Great. The world is doomed."

"Your mind is too quick to jump to conclusions, Mister Bridgewater," Gandalf said. "You don't even have all the facts to make one."

"Either way, sir, a group of eight people isn't exactly a very threatening enemy to whatever evil that's coming towards us."

"That's why you're here," Dr. Lewis said. She looked at the confused faces around her. She sighed at their ignorance as children. "Follow me if you want answers to our riddles."

She left them and went down the stairs through the door in the shadows. Gandalf smirked at them and went down as well, telling them to come. The boys just sat in their seats in a temporary state of indecision. One by one, starting with Gary, Leo and Aaron, they started to go down the stairs. Sam and Marty were the last ones in the lounge.

"What do you think about this?" Marty asked him.

"Well," Sam said slowly. "I think something is definitely going on and that this lady seems dead serious about the whole evil-taking over-the-world thing. Mind you, I also think that this could be complete bullshit."

"That's what I think," Marty admitted. "But, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

Together, they went down the stairs and ran through the shadows to catch up with the group. The only thing that went through their heads was the thought of the Darkness and what it would do to the world if nothing stopped it.


	9. The Return of the Fellowship

They finally came to the door leading to the exclusive section of the exhibition after a long walk through the a labyrinth of hallways. Freddie and Gary were wincing slightly at the numb pains they had in their feet, but said nothing.

"Before I open this door," Dr. Lewis said as she withdrew her set of keys. "I must tell you now that your life will forever be changed after your time in this room." The boys braced themselves as she opened the door and turned on the light. As the glass cases were illuminated one by one, the boys' eyes widened in amazement.

To the boys, the cases not only contained items from an ancient land, but it contained things that they remembered from their past life. Each one had a specific item that was their strongest link to their pasts. At the sight of the items, the feeling of Middle-Earth became stronger in their hearts, but they couldn't interpret it properly. Their memories were fuzzy and very unclear, like walking through a thick fog; they knew something was there, but they didn't quite know what it was.

Freddie tentatively approached the case directly to the left of the center case. Although all of the cases had some kind of blade in them, the one in this one particularly interested him. The thin lines on the slightly curved double-edged sword flowed across the metal like a flowing river. As he looked at the sword, he could almost feel the feather-like weight of it in his hands. Something else glittered in the case and attracted his attention. A simple gold ring sat on a chain that hung by the sword. Something inside of him made him panic for no reason and a sudden flash of a frightening, blood red eye wreathed in flames penetrated his mind. He cried out in surprise and fell to the floor.

"Freddie!" Sam helped him up from the floor.

"Thanks, Sam," he said with his big, blue eyes filled with platonic compassion.

"That is so freaky," Marty muttered to Pete. "These things remind me of something. I just can't place my finger on what it is. I sound crazy, don't I?"

"If you are, we're both losing our minds. That brooch that's on the cloak; it makes me thing of this huge stretch of land that's covered in rocks and this really old forest that has this sense of something that I know I've felt before."

"Really? From where?"

"Believe it or not, the forest near our school."

Gandalf looked around at the young boys whom he had remembered as grown, mature adults from five millennia ago and chuckled. Galadriel, who was monitoring their behavior, wondered what was so amusing.

"What do you find so funny, Gandalf?"

"When I see them, it's like I see two of each person. I look at Aaron and I see a teenage boy who stands up for what he believes in. But I also see Aragorn underneath the inexperienced mind, dormant for so long and soon to be revived and to once again lead this world away from darkness."

"That's if Aaron's mind accepts the change that's going to happen. If not, Aragorn will lie dormant within Aaron until he dies. And that's not going to be too far into the future if he doesn't."

Gary looked over his shoulder to Galadriel and nudged Leo. "You know that Dr. Lewis over there?"

"Mmm." His thoughts were mostly concentrated on the long bow in the glass case he looked into.

"She's hot."

"Whoa, what?" Leo's thoughts were shattered by those two small words. "You starting to have a thing for the nice lady doctor?"

"Yeah..." he sighed. "I guess I have a small spot for tall blondes."

Leo cocked an eyebrow at that last statement and looked at him. "Just don't come looking for me when she says no."

They both cracked into mutual, amused smiles and continued to chat quietly to each other about the things in the glass cases. They both agreed that they would go and fight whatever it was that was coming if only they could fight it.

Aaron stared at the long, shiny sword that lay on a special platform within the center case. He felt a strong urge to hold it in his hands. His hand strayed and tried to take the sword, but the glass stopped it.

"Aaron." Gandalf stood next to him. "Do you remember anything?"

"That's Anduril," he whispered. His hand pressed against the glass. "My old sword. It was used by my ancestor, Isildur, to cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand. I received it in Rivendell, the city ruled by Elrond, for... something I can't remember. For some reason, I feel as if I'll remember if I hold it."

"That's because you will. But, I will only get Lady Galadriel to open it if you're truly ready to remember what you did in the past. You made a huge impact on the world then and you will do it again if you choose to take on the responsibility. Do you want her to open the case?"

He stared longingly at the sword within the glass case. A part of him told him to open the case and take the sword, along with the responsibility that it carried. Another part of him said not to touch the ancient artifact and let someone else do the job. That part of him argued that he was only a boy, only turning sixteen in a few months. It questioned the ability of a small group of boys to save the world from a blanket of darkness. But, a deep confidence welled up inside of him, filling him with courage and determination.

He turned to look at Gandalf and solemnly nodded.

Gandalf smiled and returned the gesture. "Dr. Lewis? If you may, please open the door for him."

She pulled out her keys and unlocked the case. With all eyes watching, she picked up Anduril and gently placed it in Aaron's hands. He tentatively tested its weight before he finally unsheathed the legendary Sword of Kings.

All at once, the world of Middle-Earth and all of its knowledge, history and cultures were alive again in his mind. The wondrous city of Rivendell was still the home to hundreds of graceful Elves; the woods of Lothlorien still bore its beautiful golden leaves and was still ruled by the Lady Galadriel; the White City of Gondor was still as proud and honorable as it had ever been; and the rolling hills of the Shire was unknown to the rest of Middle-Earth and hobbits were still ignored and lived only in fables of Men and Elves. He remembered the little hobbits that came to the Council of Elrond and how they joined the Fellowship. He remembered the journey across the land and the adventures he had with his friends. He remembered the evil that threatened the world. And he remembered his last thoughts before he had died. His thoughts of Arwen...

"Uh, Aaron?" Leo waved his hand in front of Aaron's glazed eyes. "Anybody in there? Or did your sword suck your mind out of your brain?"

Aaron blinked and looked at Leo. "Legolas? What happened to your hair?"

Leo looked at him strangely as Gandalf put his hand on Aaron's shoulder. "Aragorn, it's good to have you back, but Legolas and the others haven't fully come back yet. Right now, you were just talking to Leo Grayfield."

Aaron, now Aragorn, turned back to Leo. As he looked at him, he could still remember the things that they went through in THIS life. It was difficult to break away from his adolescent mind and its way of thinking, so he didn't bother fighting it. "What the hell are you waiting for, Legolas? You can't fight the memories of Mirkwood and the Elves forever, you know."

Leo looked back at him with shock. When he heard the name of the forest, he felt like he could almost feel the wind going through the branches. Unknowingly, his eyes brought him to the long bow and the long white knives in the case.

"You remember, don't you?" Galadriel said with a smile. "You remember the bow that I gave you so long ago. The bow of the Galadhrim is longer than the bows of our Mirkwood brethren--"

"--And strung with the hairs of the elves," Leo finished her sentence. His eyes stayed on the bow. "You gave me a quiver of arrows, I believe, to complete the set."

Galadriel smiled and opened his case for him. He ran a hand over the bow and picked it up. As he tested the bow with his hands, he laughed. "Not only do I remember who I am, what happened in the great lands of Middle-Earth during my near-three-thousand years there and the beautiful woods of the elves, I can remember some of the songs."

He started to sing softly, but in a beautiful voice, the Song of Nimrodel.

_An Elven-maid there was of old,  
A shining star by day:  
Her mantle white was hemmed with gold.  
Her shoes of silver-gray._

_A star was bound upon her brows,  
A light was on her hair  
As sun upon the golden boughs  
In Lorien the fair._

_Her hair was long, her limbs were white,  
And fair she was and free;  
And in the wind she went as light  
As leaf of linden-tree._

He stopped singing and smiled grimly. "I can't seem to remember anymore," he sighed. "Sorry."

Aragorn merely laughed and put his arm around Legolas' shoulders in reunion. He pointed to their reflection in the glass. "You still didn't tell me what happened to your long, golden hair, Legolas."

"Oh, my God!" he cried, surrendering himself to the modern upbringing he had in this life. He ran his fingers through his hair in disbelief and muttered, "I can't believe I cut my hair."

Gary looked at the both of them with a furrowed brow. Clearly, these two boys were still Aaron and Leo, but something inside of them changed when they held their possessions again. They seemed to be complete as a being, like they found some part of them inside the weapons that linked them to their wholeness. He was particularly puzzled at Legolas' reflection. Sometimes, if the angle was right, he could see him as the mighty elf warrior he had been in the past. He saw the Prince's traveling clothes, the fierceness and peacefulness in his eyes, and, of course, his long blond hair.

His head turned to the other boys, who were all smaller than him. At impulse, he thought of them as hobbits. Then, his eyes brought him to Galadriel, who was still smiling serenely.

"I will be disappointed if you don't remember Lady Galadriel, Gimli," she said in an amused tone.

"My Lady," he sighed, finally recognizing her for who she really was. He kneeled on one knee in front of her. "I am honored to once again be in your presence."

"No need to bend down so low, Gimli. The traditions of the past don't exist anymore. I am no longer a Queen of Elves; I am a mere archaeologist."

"But, you're still Galadriel to me."

Legolas rolled his eyes and shook his head. He muttered to Aragorn, "I think he's got less chance with her now than he did before."

"I heard that, elf!" The Three Hunters were then truly reunited after five thousand years of separation. Of course, they were much younger and inexperienced than their past lives, but their friendship was still as strong as it was in the past.

Sam raised his hand like he was in class. "I'm a little confused here."

"Do you believe in reincarnation?" Gandalf asked them.

They all nodded hesitantly. Marty added, "To a certain extent, yeah."

"Then you should also believe that your souls have walked together on this earth before. These three," he pointed to the teenage Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, "have regained their memories from the past and remember what they had done for the world. You four were also part of their last adventure and saved the world along with them."

"So you're saying that we're actually these old spirits from the past who saved the world?" Marty asked skeptically.

To Freddie, it would have sounded odd as well, if it wasn't for the image of the flaming eye. It sent a wave of fear over him and drowned him with despair. His thoughts must have shown through his face because Galadriel started talking about him.

"It's true. Freddie, over there, remembers the Dark Lord through the One Ring. The Eye of Sauron tortured poor Frodo's mind when he bore the Ring to Mordor and the feelings must have carried on to this life. The simple gold ring you see in that case is simply a replica of the One Ring."

"The Ring..." Freddie felt the dark feeling that that little trinket symbolized. As he looked at the ring again, the Eye flashed brilliantly in his mind with a fiery mountain behind it. A voice screamed in his mind, "Baggins!"

The scream shocked him so much that it sent a spasm through his body, surprising Sam, Peter and Marty. When they asked him what was wrong, he couldn't say what it was because he didn't know what was wrong. All he knew was that the ring had reminded him of something deep within his soul.

"The fire of Sauron and Mount Doom don't burn anymore, Frodo," Galadriel reassured. "You can put the past behind you. This life is a new beginning for you."

"But it's also an end for ourselves, isn't it?" Freddie choked out through his fear. "Or else there wouldn't be a good reason for bringing us back to save the world again. I mean, this is supposed to end all the things we didn't do, right?"

"Smart boy. A little smarter than the last time I saw you, Frodo. But, you are not yet Frodo Baggins of the Shire." She opened Frodo's glass case.

"The Shire?" Marty voiced to himself. "That sounds familiar..."

The gold ring reflected a beautiful light to Freddie as his hand drew to it. With a single touch of the ring, his vision filled with fire. Heat surrounded him until he felt like he was burning with the fire itself. He pulled his hand away like the ring was red-hot. But, his hand tentatively went back to the ring and grabbed it. The War of the Ring painfully came back to his memory. Memories of Mordor, the Gondorians, the Dead Marshes, the corruption of Boromir, Lothlorien, the Mines of Moria, Rivendell, Bree, and, of course, the Shire reemerged in his mind along with the other things that happened. He could clearly remember the Fellowship, especially Aragorn and his fellow hobbits. Sam stood out clearly in his mind and what he had done for him in the past. All this came back to him in an instant.

Frodo blinked and unclenched his fists. "The Shire... What happened to the Shire? Did we save Middle-Earth?"

Everyone, except for Frodo, Sam, Marty and Peter, laughed out loud.

"We did save Middle-Earth, Frodo," Aragorn said. "But we're about five thousand years from the War of the Ring. So, technically, Middle-Earth is gone."

"Or did you just get caught up in the whole reincarnation thing?" Legolas asked with a teenage smile.

Frodo paused for a moment to fully remember what had happened while that part of his soul was dormant. He hung his head in embarrassment after he went through his memory. "Oh, shut up. It's kind of hard to remember things after being unconscious for five thousand years."

Then, he finally noticed the other boys. "Merry? Pippin? Sam!"

Marty and Peter looked at him like his was a little crazy. Sam, however, looked at him like he was a friend from a long time ago.

"Come on, Sam. You don't recognize your Mister Frodo?"

"I have to say, Sam," Gandalf said. "I didn't expect you to stick by Frodo like that after I told you to never leave him. I said that in Hobbiton, remember?"

"Hobbiton..." Something stirred in Peter's mind.

" 'Never leave him, Samwise Gamgee.' That's what you told me." Sam turned to Frodo. "And I guess I never did, not even after all these ages."

"You take these things too literally, Sam," Frodo said as he clapped his back. "You have got to lighten up on that promise soon." He paused for a moment. "Do you remember what your occupation was in Hobbiton?"

"Yes." Sam bit his tongue. "I was your gardener."

Frodo laughed with joy when he confirmed that his faithful, loyal friend as truly back by his side.

"Merry and Pippin are still lost," Aragorn pointed out.

"That can be easily remedied, given the suitable way of persuasion," said Gandalf. He looked at Marty and Peter with burning eyes. The boys shifted nervously where they were. "Now, boys, do your remember the Shire? The Brandywine River? Hobbiton?"

Something flashed in their eyes. A lost memory, perhaps.

"What about Farmer Maggot?" Sam asked them. "His mushrooms and the Black Rider on the Road. Do any of these ring a bell?"

"A shortcut to mushrooms," muttered Peter.

"I think it's working," said Galadriel.

"But what happened next?"

The group of reincarnated spirit thought for a while about how to bring back Merry and Pippin's souls to completion. Finally, Legolas spoke up.

"Fangorn Forest," he said plainly. "And the Ents. You were the ones who brought them into the war to help overthrow Saruman. And then you told us about Treebeard and the rest of the tree-shepherds in Minas Tirith. Remember?"

Peter suddenly jumped up and down in excitement. "We told you guys after Merry and Eowyn killed off the Witch-King, Angmar! That was in Gondor and you three were coming from the water in these really creepy boats from... uh..."

"The Paths of the Dead," Marty finished for him. "Aragorn had to go through if he wanted to fulfill his destiny and save Middle-Earth as King of Men... If I remember correctly."

"The little hobbits are back!" Gimli cried out. The Three Hunters went over and formally welcomed each other into the modern world. At that time, Merry and Pippin still needed to adjust a little to the shocking cultural difference and adapt to the overall complications of their situation.

"Boys." Galadriel got their attention like they were in school. "Sorry to stop your little reunion, but we've got business to attend to."


	10. Planning It Out

"Let me guess: evil's returning and we need to stop it," Aragorn said.

"Well, obviously," said Gandalf. "This evil is very similar to Sauron's, but it seems more powerful than that of Sauron's; it seems more raw. It's not refined or corrupted by too much manipulation. This means that its magic is easier to harness and develop than Sauron's or Saruman's. And, as you all may have figured out by now, this new evil is much more dangerous than anyone could've realized because it has somehow integrated Sauron's power into itself with Saruman's magic."

"So we're up against a force that's equal to three evils in the past," summarized Legolas. "And we actually have a chance against it?"

"You're too quick to judge, Legolas," Galadriel lightly reprimanded. "You haven't even heard all of what we know about this new evil."

"There's more?" Pippin asked.

"Yes. I'm sure you all heard of the search of the unknown creatures in the forest a few weeks ago. About two dozen armed men and women went into the forest. Gunfire has heard in the distance of a nearby farm soon after they went in. Up to this point, none of the armed officials have returned. The farmer said that their dog was barking and whimpering to the school's general direction. During the times that the dog was quiet enough, the man said that he could hear yells that were deeper and far more bestial than any man could voice.

"This makes us think that those were Orcs or Uruk-Hai that have found some way to live with live bullets in them. We all know that both Orcs and Uruk-Hai aren't exactly hard targets and they aren't that swift. There is no way anything the rough size of a normal man can live after taking a few bullets to their body."

"So what're you saying?" asked Frodo. "That normal weapons can't hurt them?"

"That and more. We're saying that normal PEOPLE can't hurt them. Aragorn and Legolas have already killed two of the new creatures, so we must deduct that it's the difference of people that matters."

"Pardon me," interrupted Sam. "But that doesn't seem right. The police force is far more capable of killing weird creatures that come from darkness compared to a few kids."

"What do you mean?"

"Wouldn't the weapon matter? The cops tried killing off the orcs with guns while Legolas killed them off with a bow and arrow."

"And, there's a bit of a time difference from when we met the things to yesterday," added Aragorn.

"Smart boys. But, you didn't let me finish, Sam."

Sam bit his lip and bowed his head in apology.

"I must thank you, though. You said what I was going to say to all of you. The weapon and the person combined can successfully destroy the evil beasts. Of course, it also depends on where you strike, how much power you put into the blow, and so on."

"That's where our stuff come in, right?" Gimli eyed his axe in his case. Legolas could tell by the gleam in his eyes that he couldn't wait to swing it around again.

"That's right, Gimli," Gandalf said as Galadriel opened the rest of the cases. "Your weapons had magic in them when you used them in Middle-Earth but it is much stronger now because of the surplus of unused magic in this world. Oh, and Frodo, that isn't the original Sting that you had in the past."

"I know." Frodo swung the sword a few times to test it. "The original was destroyed in Mount Doom. Except for the fact that it seems a little shorter than the last time I held it, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference if I didn't know. Does it glow blue when orcs are near?"

"Sort of. I remember when Galadriel tested it in the Field of Celebrant that it glowed various shades of blue. I don't what the blue shimmering means, though."

"It was a daunting task recreating the items that were destroyed," said Galadriel. "The cloaks and brooches weren't that hard, but the swords that Sam and Frodo used were pretty difficult to recreate, along with Merry's sword and Boromir's Horn."

Aragorn, who was testing his own bow, suddenly looked up at Boromir's name. He and Legolas looked at each other in sadness when they thought of him and his final deed. They glanced at his case, remembering their promise to him.

"Wait a minute." Legolas looked more carefully through Boromir's glass case. "You said that you recreated the Horn of Gondor. But it's not here."

Galadriel shifted nervously from where she was standing. "That's because it was stolen from me."

"Is that the same reason why the phial containing the light of Earendil's star isn't here?" Frodo had just noticed it wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Oh, the Valar forbid, no!" she cried out. "If the enemy got a hold of the Light, we would already be dead!"

"How comforting," muttered Legolas.

"No, I hid it somewhere. But I don't remember where I hid it."

"Even better," he thought sarcastically.

"Did you misplace it when you were unpacking?" Aragorn suggested. "It can't be too far; this is the first exhibit, isn't it?"

"Yes, this is the first exhibit, but that doesn't matter. I hid it when Elves still lived in Lothlorien."

"So let me get this straight," Aragorn said impatiently. "The eight of us, seven of whom are youths, not only have to save the world from perpetual darkness, but we have to find a glass bottle that contains light and an ancient horn in the process."

Galadriel thought for a moment. "Yeah."

"And I have to lead them."

"Yeah."

He sighed when he started to comprehend the entire situation. Even the newly awakened part of his soul was a little overwhelmed by this responsibility. A thought occurred to him. "Why do we need the Horn of Gondor?"

"Because the Horn was originally used to summon the armies of Gondor. Even though Gondor fails to exist, the spirits of the mighty country are still out there, waiting to be called to duty. I'm sure Boromir is searching for the spirits now."

"Ohhh..." The boys could see a rough outline of the plan that Galadriel and Gandalf had come up with.

"So where does the Light of Earendil come in?" asked Frodo.

"The Light may very well be what defeats this darkness once and for all," Galadriel said. "Haven't you ever wondered what filled the bottle and made that beautiful light?"

"No," Frodo admitted. He shook his head. "No, I just cared it if worked or not."

She smiled. "It's filled with what we used to call Tears of the Stars. It's a very rare event when it rains from a cloudless night sky, but it happened during your stay Lorien during the War of the Ring. After a single night, my Mirror was filled enough to contain the essence of Earendil.

"That little bottle contains enough power to save the world or destroy it. Through certain methods of magic, it can be turned into a weapon of darkness. With that much firepower behind the enemy, they would literally be unstoppable."

"But I thought I had it with me when I jumped," said Frodo, referring to his suicide jump.

"No, I took it from you after I thought you were dead because of Shelob," said Sam. "But I dropped it on the mountain. Obviously, someone must've found it."

"How much time do we have?" Pippin asked.

Gandalf and Galadriel both shook their heads dejectedly. "We have no idea."

"But," Galadriel spoke up. "I do know that the evilness is originating from this town. There's no doubt about it. And, there's also another being that lives here that has seen the world of Middle-Earth, except we don't know what it is. I sensed that it's in the forest."

Legolas ran his fingers through his hair and started to pace around the pedestal in the middle of the room.

"Okay. So we have to recover the Horn of Gondor, which has been stolen by someone or something; find the Light of Earendil, which is lost somewhere; find out that unknown thing that's hiding in the forest, what it's doing here and if it'll help us because God knows we need help; and, of course, defeat an unknown darkness that's probably growing stronger as we speak. Did I miss anything?"

"I don't think so, unfortunately," sighed Gandalf. "But, I think Galadriel will be able to conduct a more thorough search of the area once known as Middle-Earth. You'll be able to use your tour locations to your advantage, correct?"

"Of course. I'll share the burden of finding the Light. However, the rest of you must search for the Horn of Gondor. At least until we have a better idea of who our opponent is and how to defeat it."

"We have to do all this secretly, too," Gimli pointed out. "If Sauron and Saruman had spies, this new devilry undoubtedly has some of its own. We honestly don't know who to trust."

"I also have to warn all of you to try to be as normal as possible when you leave this room. We can't have suspicions about us and irrational theories panicking the general public too much. Don't start the search too soon after today or it might draw the enemy's attention to us."

"Mind you, it isn't as if we're in a hurry to do this," said Merry. "The face of darkness isn't too easy to look at."

"Your weapons and items of value will help you," she said, being exactly how she was when she was still Lady of Lorien. "You may take them to protect yourselves and others."

"No kidding. Cool." Merry slid off the elvish dagger from its place in the glass case. He briefly remembered his journey with the Uruk-Hai before taking the other items from his case.

Aragorn gently placed his sword, quiver, bow and dagger he had received from Celeborn on his cloak. The last things that remained in his case were a shimmering necklace and a green stone. He took the necklace out and grimly held it in his hands. The Evenstar's light shined at him.

"Arwen..." he whispered. "I'm sorry..."

"Aragorn."

Frodo tugged at his shirt and look at him with hopeful eyes.

"If we came to this world, chances are that she's here, too. God knows she'd never leave you and you know that. If she had enough courage and power to give up eternal life and live with you, of all people, she is probably around here somewhere."

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, that's right, Frodo. Thanks."

Frodo smiled and started to help Gimli with his axe, which seemed to be stuck in its pedestal.

"Yeah," he sighed as he slid on the necklace. "Hopefully..."

Sam's eye was caught by Boromir's full case. "Who's going to take Boromir's stuff?"

Silence settled in the room. Everyone looked at each other. No one wanted to take them out of great respect for Boromir. They all heard about how he had died from the news and Legolas and Aragorn's testaments. But, one by one, all eyes turned to one person.

Gandalf sighed. "Well, I think we all know who should keep Boromir's possessions: Aragorn."

He looked around at everyone, who were still looking at him. "Well, if I must, I must."

They all gathered their things and started to leave. Most of them wrapped their belongings with the cloaks that were in their cases. They all agreed that if anybody asked why they had such interesting weaponry they would say that they were helping Dr. Lewis move the artifacts. When she left them, they would say that the items had to be moved to another site so that something else could take its place. Luckily, no one asked anything, although they did attract some curious eyes and turned some heads.

When they got home, they either snuck their things by their parents when they weren't looking or they simply lied about where they got it. In Gandalf's case, he didn't need to worry about his parents and just put his sword, staff and cloak where a glancing eye wouldn't see.

They didn't dare tell anyone, not even their closest friends and relatives, aside from each other, about what truly happened in the museum. After a couple of weeks, they began a discreet search for the missing items.

Meanwhile, in a dark, dank room, a tall, cloaked figure stands triumphantly.

"I've done it," it garbled. It held up a test tube containing a tiny creature that was similar to a spider. Its four legs waved around like tentacles instead of insect-like legs. A miniscule mouth rimmed with even smaller, sharper teeth was opening and closing on its belly. It waved its tentacles angrily when the Master shook the test tube.

"What has Master done?" Smeagol asked from under the table.

"I've created something that will throw the world of Men into chaos and confusion," it replied gleefully. "Like all living things, with time, this will multiply and grow stronger, creating yet another army for me."

Smeagol looked at the minute creature in the tube. "How, Master? It's so small. Smeagol could squish it like a bug."

The Master turned and carried the tube to a new reproduction field. In a slimy, grotesque pod, he slid the tiny creature into the field.

"Smeagol! You wanted to know what they do?"

He nodded his head.

The Master let out a bone-chilling laugh.

"You'll find out soon enough. Everyone will."


	11. Happy New Year

A/N: I don't own anything from BMW either... But I do want to own one someday. Hehe.

--- ---

Almost two and a half months had passed since their museum trip when something hastened their plans. Galadriel had long departed from their city and they hadn't received too much news from her. Their search was hindered by the fact that they were still under the supervision of their parents. They had found virtually nothing about the Horn, the Light or the mysterious force in the forest because nothing out of the ordinary happened during those months. But, that was all about to change.

It started a few days after New Year's Day and there was a thick layer of snow on the ground. Frodo trudged through the snow to Legolas' front door and rang the doorbell. A tall woman answered the door.

"Hi," he greeted. "Is Lego-- uh, Leo ready?"

"Not quite," she replied. "He's still putting some last touches to his little project in the kitchen. Oh, come in, come in! Where are my manners?"

"Thank you, Mrs. Grayfield," he said politely. She directed to the reasonably large kitchen and left to do her own work. In the kitchen, Legolas was just putting something into a small paper box. Lost of dirty dishes lay in the sink and various ingredients, like flour and honey, still lay on the counter.

"Wow. I never thought that Legolas knew how to cook," he said, mostly to himself.

Legolas chuckled as he put the ingredients away. "I don't. I've been trying to make lembas for a week now and it still doesn't do the trick. I think Galadriel missed something in her recipe, so I'm just hoping that this batch will work."

"Aragorn's your guinea pig, isn't he?"

"Well, yeah! Would YOU like to be the first to try MY cooking?" he joked.

Frodo laughed. "Good point!"

Legolas finished putting everything back to where they were supposed to be and went upstairs to get his gear. He quickly told his mother that he was going to Aaron's house, grabbed the lembas and left with Frodo.

"Do you think I'd actually stand a chance if we got into a fight today?" Frodo asked. He had to arch his head a little higher than usual because Legolas regained his ability to walk on snow.

"On a one-on-one battle, I'd say you would stand a pretty good chance. This time around, you actually have training from me and Aragorn."

During the past two months, Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas repossessed most of their combat skills and knowledge from their past lives. Aragorn even got his hands on some athelas and was growing some in his greenhouse. Now, in addition to their duty to the world, they had to teach the four hobbits how to properly use a sword.

When Legolas gained some distance ahead of Frodo, he would often stop and turn around to wait. Frodo waited when he was far enough and quickly rolled up a snowball. Legolas turned to check on Frodo and instantly got a snowball in the face. By the time they got to Aragorn's house, they were both out of breath and soaking wet.

"We're teaching him sword-fighting," said Aragorn when they went in and started to dry off. "Not target practice."

"He doesn't need it," laughed Legolas. He flattened his short hair. "Got me every time. But he's still not as good as me."

"Yeah, obviously!"

Aragorn grabbed his jacket and his sword and led them all into his backyard. When they were ready, they started to train Frodo how to fight two opponents. Once he failed horribly, they went back to one-on-one combat.

"So where're the rest of the hobbits?" Legolas asked. He was sitting on the snow and drew his coat closer to him. Although he had regained some of his Elvish qualities, like walking on the snow, he was still part human, so he still got cold relatively easily.

"Stop distracting me," Frodo said as he blocked Aragorn's attack.

"There'll be distractions in real battle," he countered. "Learn how to divide your mind."

"They're at Gimli's," he replied in broken speech. "Him and Gandalf are helping them fight in their own way."

"Why didn't you go with them?"

Frodo hit Aragorn's side with the flat of his blade. Aragorn winced and stopped the spar.

"Because Gandalf hates teaching me," he laughed.

Aragorn motioned for Legolas to get up and help him train Frodo. But, the Elf stayed on the snow with a worried look on his face.

"Legolas?" he called to him. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. But something's going through the city and I don't think it's here for the New Year's sales at the malls."

He closed his eyes and focused on his hearing. Faint, but distinct, screams could be heard from downtown. His eyes shot open in shock.

"Oh, shit."

Ignoring the confused looks of Aragorn and Frodo, he nimbly climbed onto Aragorn's roof and looked into downtown.

"Oh, shit!"

"Legolas, what is wrong?" Aragorn yelled up at him.

As Legolas climbed down from the roof, Frodo sensed the darkness as well. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of small, skittering beings were flooding the city. He heard a nearby scream of pain and more skittering.

"Things that look kind of like bugs are taking over the city," Legolas told them. "It looks like they have to take over someone's mind and body to do any kind of damage. They're getting closer at a pretty good rate, so I suggest we get the hell out of here."

He ran over the snow as fast as he could to his own house, leaving Frodo behind. Aragorn picked up the package he had left behind and went inside.

"What are you doing?" Frodo shouted. "We have to get out of here!"

"I know." He quickly picked up the rest of his weapons, the green stone, an extra quiver and his car keys. He pointed to the front of the house from inside to Frodo.

Picking up on his directions, Frodo ran to the front of the house. Looking down the street, he could just see the army of what looked like insects coming down the road.

A man came out of his house to get his newspaper and one of the bugs leaped onto his head. As the man screamed in pain and terror, the bug crawled to the base of his skull and wrapped its long tentacles around his neck. Blood stained his clothes from the back of his neck, but he still stood. Like a zombie, he turned back into his house.

Aragorn's garage door opened and his silver Mercedes rolled out. The passenger door flung out at him.

"Get in," he ordered Frodo.

Obediently, he put Sting back into its sheath and got into the car. As they drove down the street well above the speed limit, he heard the voices of the man's family shriek in agony.

"Where's Legolas?" Frodo asked in a panic.

"He's coming," replied a very calm and confident Aragorn.

Just as the army approached Aragorn's house, the garage door of Legolas' house opened. From out of the garage, a BMW F650 CS motorcycle in titan silver roared onto the street. It quickly caught up with their car and kept a constant speed with them.

Legolas' intense blue eyes shone through his sleek black helmet as he sped up ahead of them. With his right hand, he dialed a number on his built-in helmet-phone.

Aragorn's car phone rang instantly and Frodo picked it up and put it on the speaker.

"There's a bunch of Orcs and the things we fought before up ahead on the road. I'm taking a few of them out. It'd be nice if you put down the car top and helped me."

"Car top coming down," reported Aragorn. He hung up and pressed the button for retracting the car top, letting in the icy air of winter.

"Frodo, take the wheel!" he shouted over the wind.

"What? Are you crazy? I don't know how to drive!"

"Just hold it steady!"

Reluctantly, he took the wheel and slid into the driver's seat as Aragorn got into the passenger side.

Aragorn grabbed his bow from the backseat and his quiver from Middle-Earth. Once he was fully equipped, he dialed up Legolas' helmet-phone.

"Legolas," he called through the phone. "I need you to move to the left a little bit I don't want to hit you with an arrow."

"Okay." The motorcycle shifted to the left as they came to the first of a series of paved hills. "Keep back a little so I don't damage your car by accident." With that, Legolas reached behind him and drew out one of his white knives.

Frodo decreased his speed a little and Aragorn readied his bow. As they went up and over the last hill, he stood up and took aim at the bottom.

As if they were expected, a unit of Orcs and Neos were waiting at the bottom. Aragorn took a few of them out with his bow and arrows from the Mercedes. Legolas used his other hand to withdraw his other knife and took off some of the Orcs' heads as he sped through their garrison by momentarily letting go of his motorcycle. Aragorn picked off the remnants of the small group of demons as they left the residential area of the city.

After Aragorn regained control of his car, Frodo looked at the city with horror and sadness. Men and women were running through the streets, trying to escape the killing clutches of a fellow human. The ones with the Parasites cruelly wrapped around their necks slaughtered innocent people with blank faces and bloodstained hands. Yells of torture and anguish sent the city into turmoil.

Corpses littered the streets with blood spilling onto the road. Men, women, children and the elderly all suffered the same fate. Those that had been quick enough to realize what was happening fled the city and abandoned it along with the people inside of it, so the maimed carcasses lay rotting in the open air for all to see. Every now and then, Frodo saw a group of gaunt fiends devour the remains of a human.

"Oh, my God," he said softly. "This is just a pointless massacre."

"I know," Aragorn said.

Then, a group of possessed people appeared on the road in front of them and formed a human roadblock. They braked about a block away from them and they all stared at each other for a moment.

--- ---

"Master."

An Orc approached the dark figure and bowed deeply.

"What is it?" the Master said sharply. It was preoccupied with the invasion that was going on.

"We found something that might prove to be of your interest." He motioned for the other Orcs to bring it in.

"Let me go!" a voice cried out from the shadows. It was presented to the Master.

A stunned silence filled the room.

"Well," the Master finally said. "This just got interesting."

--- ---

The three boys managed to escape the horde of possessed people causing minimal damage and took refuge in an abandoned warehouse/office building downtown. They hid their vehicles in the parking lot under the building.

"I wonder if the others are okay," said Frodo, voicing the thoughts of everyone there.

"Do they have a cell phone on them?" asked Legolas. He took out his own cell phone.

Frodo told him Sam's cell phone number and he tried calling.

"Damn. No reception in here." He eyed the elevator across the building. "Do you think it still works?"

"A cell phone works worse inside an elevator," stated Aragorn.

"I know that. There's probably better reception on the roof. I just don't feel like walking up all those stairs."

"Only one way to know, isn't there?" He strolled to the elevator and pressed the button.

As Legolas and Frodo approached the elevator, the bell dinged and the doors opened. All three of them cautiously stepped into the dull, gray box.

Legolas pressed the button for the top floor and muttered to Aragorn, "If the wire snaps and we fall to our deaths, I'm blaming you."

Except for the loud noises of the neglected elevator, it worked fine. The doors slid open to a small staircase that led to the door outside. Out on the windy roof of the building, Legolas tried calling Sam's cell phone again while Aragorn and Frodo overlooked the deteriorating city.

As they watched the streets, police cars came screeching to a halt in front of a group of possessed people. Gunshots filled the air, making the boys on the rooftop duck out of instinct. The host bodies jerked from the impact of the bullets and blood burst from their bodies onto the street. Once the hosts were truly dead, the Parasites detached themselves from their former hosts. Then, they emitted a warbling sound when saw the armed men and women.

In an instant, a screeching was heard and a group of six Neos came running down the adjacent street. The police shot round after round of bullets at them, but none of them ever hit the demons. Each time a bullet seemed to hit one, it hit a sort of invisible barrier.

"Looks like Galadriel and Gandalf were right," commented Frodo. "Normal people with normal weapons can't hurt them."

Taking advantage of the police's distraction, the Parasites pounced on their necks and began to drill a hole at the base of their skulls to take over their minds. They made the hosts destroy the rest of the cops who weren't controlled. After the job was done, the hosts went back into their cars and drove away.

The Neos started to gorge on the fresh human meat and more started to gather for the feast.

Legolas hung up on his cell phone and went over to the ledge where Aragorn and Frodo were looking at the horrendous event on the street below them.

"The others managed to escape fast enough in Gandalf's car into the woods on the other side of the city," he told them. "They said to stay here at the warehouse. They're going to call back in a couple hours."

Aragorn vaguely nodded and continued to look over the city.

A bitter wind picked up their hair and their coats and waved them into the air. The sky grew darker and large snowflakes started to fall on the dark, deserted city. A tear rolled down Legolas' cheek and onto the ledge.

"Happy New Year."


	12. Tears and Guns

A small figure stealthily crept around a building corner and listened for any danger. It carefully looked around the street for any kind of movement.

The street was slightly wet of a recent rainfall, making everything reflect the moonlight and the few streetlights that still stood. The stores were dark and the windows were either shattered or cracked. One store had a half-eaten corpse hanging out of the front window. Cars were over-turned on the road or severely damaged by the constant rampaging of the orcs and Neos.

A wind picked up and a sudden movement caught the figure's eye. A single piece of paper rolled across the street, its rustling echoing slightly in the silence.

The small figure checked once more that it was okay to walk on the street and silently ran down alleyways and roads. After a few minutes, the pack it was wearing started to slow it down. It stopped and leaned against a building to breathe. As it did so, another figure came out of the darkness and examined it with its large blue eyes.

"Are you okay, Sam?"

"Yeah. The stuff in the pack's starting to weigh me down."

Frodo quietly took some food out of Sam's pack and put it in his own. "You never were that good of a runner.

"Come on. Just one more block."

Even though their Hobbit feet were covered by light running shoes, they were still able to walk with little or no sound. This was why it was usually the Hobbits were sent out for supplies.

They crept along the street until they came to the back door of the warehouse. Sam knocked the password and they were let in.

Inside, the industrial-strength lamps had been turned on and they sat on metal pillars placed around the huge room.

One was near a corner, where Aragorn was installing some upgrades for his car. Legolas' motorcycle reflected the bright light near the Mercedes. This was where Aragorn usually spent his free time, if he wasn't practicing.

Another one was placed near the elevator. To the right of the elevator, they created a basic kitchen. To the left were a couple of couches and a radio to keep in touch with the outside world. It was often tuned to a news station if not a music one.

Two lamps were stationed around the middle of the large warehouse, where a large rectangle was drawn out with tape. This was where most of the action took place. They often sparred in the rectangle and tried out new strategies.

The last lamp was placed near another corner with mechanical equipment cluttering the area. The group had taken some equipment and materials from a nearby welding workshop and reassembled a workstation back at the warehouse. That was where Gimli favored besides the training ground.

Luckily, the electricity was still running in the building. The lamps put out a bright, white light so they painted the windows black so they don't attract attention at night.

At that time, Gandalf was listening to the news on the radio in the rec. area. Merry and Gimli were practicing on the training ground; Merry with better skill than he had ever had before. Aragorn was tinkering with his car again and Pippin had answered the door looking like he was helping him.

"Where's Legolas?" asked Sam as he dropped his pack from his shoulder.

"He's poking around the offices upstairs again," Pippin replied. "Still exploring the old building, I guess."

"He's probably looking for the best way to fight up there if the occasion ever comes along," said Freddie. He started to unload his pack, which was filled with food. Sam also took out all the food from his own pack and started to refill the "pantry".

It had been a month and a half since the Invasion and they were closer to defeating the evilness that lurked the city than they had ever before. During that time, the young boys had to grow up very quickly. They merged their knowledge of battle with the knowledge of their city and its geography to create a very effective way of hiding from the Darkness and launching minute attacks on small groups of orcs. Because of this experience, whenever any one of them stepped outside, their nerves turned into steel and they truly transformed into their old selves when they were hunting.

They had managed to capture a single Orc alive and interrogated him in a small building across town. After their patience grew incredibly thin and they had tried various methods of persuasion, the Orc had told them valuable pieces of information.

"This little invasion that happened was only a test," the Orc had growled. "Master only wanted to see if the Vampire Parasites would be effective. Obviously, it is. Once Master has enough Parasites, he'll use them to take over this pitiful World of Men. You eight will make fine warriors when my Master finds you and makes you his personal attack force and slaves."

"Where is he? Right now?" Gimli asked impatiently. When the Orc refused to answer, he drew out his axe and threatened it. "Tell us! Or you're losing an arm."

The Orc had just laughed evilly at the threat and revealed nothing else. When Gimli came towards it with his axe, it surprised them all by breaking out of its restraints and tried to attack him. Unfortunately for the Orc, Gimli swung his axe a little too quickly for it and he took off its head.

Aragorn stopped working on his car for a moment and leaned on it, deep in thought. Orange sparks flew through the air in the corner across from him. Gimli, it seemed, was at his workplace again. He and Merry had stopped sparring.

He chuckled to himself. "At least Gimli can keep himself occupied in this dark time," he said silently to himself.

Gandalf looked over at the brooding teen and turned off the radio. With some effort, he got up from the couch and went over to him.

"Too many thoughts, Aragorn?"

He looked up at Gandalf from wiping his hands free of motor oil. "Yeah. Can't work on my car because of them."

"Thinking about what we have to do?"

He slowly shook his head. "For once, no. Thinking about something that already happened."

Gandalf looked at him with wise eyes. Aragorn could see so many ages and pieces of wisdom locked behind those eyes. He knew what he was thinking about before he said anything.

"Your family?"

"Yeah," he sighed. After a pause, he spoke up again. "They all think that we're dead and they didn't even come looking for us. I doubt they even bothered to wait for me if they were actually fast enough to avoid the Invasion. I know that Dad probably didn't even think about my survival." A bitter tone penetrated his usual calmness in his last sentence.

"I'm sure that if your parents could come looking for you, they would," Gandalf comforted.

"No," he replied icily. "I seriously doubt that mine or Legolas' parents would come back for us. Our dads have branches of their company all over the world. They would just need to relocate their head office and their new lives would start.

"That's the way it's always been!" He finally exploded and released some of his pent-up rage. "Our family has always been about him and his stupid company. It was always 'not now, Aaron, Mommy and Daddy are working on a very important deal right now,' or, 'maybe next time, Aaron. We're too busy to play with you right now.'"

He didn't realize how loud he'd gotten and everybody was looking at him with mixed emotions. Pity, sympathy, and even familiarity were mingled with shock at his sudden loss of control and sad story. He looked around and fought to hold back his tears.

"Every day, my parents would grow more and more distant from me." He couldn't seem to stop pouring out his secrets. It seemed like a dam had burst from inside of him. "Legolas and I often supported each other by ourselves. Each time we were brought together to play, we felt like it was the only human compassion we could have. We both knew we were sort of special than other kids because there was always a barrier between us and the rest of the world. That barrier was even strong enough to keep us apart from out families. So far apart that one year..."

The elevator had dinged in the middle of Aragorn's speech and Legolas had come out, dragging a couple of large, heavy crates. Everybody was listening to Aragorn to notice him and he had just caught the last part of what he was saying before he broke off.

Aragorn turned his back to the others, ashamed because he was crying. Gandalf patted his shoulder in a fatherly way.

"What happened?" Merry asked with concern.

"One year," continued Legolas. He picked up his sad story with a heavy heart. "His parents forgot him completely. It was his fifteenth birthday and he was really looking forward to it because he finally made some good friends at school; you guys. His parents had been talking about some party for a while before that and he had thought that it was for him. Turned out that the party was for some partners of the company. They forgot about his birthday completely."

"That's so sad," murmured Merry. He looked at Aragorn with renewed appreciation.

"Yeah, I know. My own parents were kind of obsessed with the company like that, too. But, every now and then, they'd at least spend some good time with me and buy me things every so often. They'd always remember my birthday, too, sometimes without my reminder." He chuckled grimly at some memories of the past.

"I knew that my parents loved me, even if it wasn't with all their hearts. Aragorn didn't. He wasn't completely sure until his birthday. At that time, he knew that they didn't. Even when they tried to buy him back with that Mercedes, he could see that they were putting up a façade to make sure their own son wouldn't mess their public image. Even I could see the coldness his parents had for him.

"It's sad, isn't it? For the past year, he's been spending more time at my house than his own."

With tears in his eyes, Frodo went across the room and hugged Aragorn from behind.

"Forget them," said Frodo from just below Aragorn's shoulder. "You have us now and you know that we'll never be able to forget you. We couldn't even if we wanted to."

Aragorn smiled weakly and hugged him back.

Seeing that he was better, Legolas decided to try to make him feel better with a friendly joke. "Aragorn, you should know by now that we can't get rid of each other, even if we tried. Trust me; I know because I've tried." He grinned to let him know he was joking.

Aragorn chuckled at his joke and made a small gesture at Legolas, which lightened the mood as much as it possibly could.

Everything started to go back to normal as Aragorn wiped away his tears and Gandalf further consoled him. Legolas set to his task of opening his locked crates, the hobbits started to cook some dinner and Gimli resumed his work in his little workshop.

After about fifteen minutes, Gimli finished his work with great pride.

"It's finally finished."

He took off all of his gear and held up his project of a whole month.

A long, tapered metal staff shimmered in his hand. He had welded Merry's sword to the end of it and, with Legolas' help, he made soft, Elvish inscriptions along the staff. He had transformed Merry's Elvish sword into an elegant Elvish scythe with some pure metals he had found around the city.

He swung it around in his hands before he presented it to Merry.

"It took a long time, Master Meriadoc, but you are now the proud owner of an improved Elvish weapon."

Merry said nothing but his glee showed through his eyes as he tested it in his hands. He stopped playing with it when he accidentally let go of the scythe and made it go flying across the room, nearly hitting Pippin and Sam in the process.

As he picked up his weapon amid laughter from most of the others, he said dryly, "I think I may need some training before I try using this outside."

Frodo then called everybody for their dinner, Legolas coming last because he was reluctant to eat. He had been attempting to unlock the crates for quite a while with no success.

After dinner, when he was trying to pick the lock with a hairpin he found upstairs, Sam came by and sat next to him.

"Why do you want to open that thing, anyway?"

"Because," Legolas answered distractedly, "I heard a metal-on-metal sound inside when I moved the crate. Thought Gimli could use it or something."

"You're so thoughtful," said Sam, grinning.

"To hell with this," he scoffed. He got up and borrowed Merry's new scythe. "Let's kill two birds with one stone and test this thing by slicing that bastard lock off. I'd move if I were you, Sam," he advised.

Sam quickly got to his feet and moved away from the crate.

After a moment of testing the scythe's weight, Legolas took the lock off with one fluid stroke. He gave back the scythe and finally opened the crate.

"Well," he said after a moment of looking at the contents of the crate. "This makes things a bit easier for us, doesn't it?"

Sam went back to Legolas' side and peered into the crate. When he saw what was in it, he understood why his was grinning.

Inside were at least a dozen or two firearms with plenty of ammunition. Most of them were hand-held pistols mostly made by Glock and Colt, but Legolas recognized a few Magnums in the crate as well.

"Dad had a catalogue in his study," he explained to the surprised faces around him. "When he wasn't home, I'd go in and sneak a look."

"Bad Legolas," Aragorn lightly reprimanded. He picked up the scythe and opened the other crate. His eyes widened at the different kinds of firearms in that crate.

Half a dozen long arms, rifles and snipers were contained inside with enough ammo to take out an army. Some of them were made by Colt, but the others were made by Thompson.

"Wow," he simply said.

"You do realize we won't be able to use these guns too often, right?" Merry said. He picked up one of the Glocks. "The noise these things make would definitely attract some attention to ourselves."

"It'll still make it easier for us to hurt the enemy from farther away," said Legolas. He was already checking out the aim on a Magnum. "Arrows can only go so far, you know."

"And, the playing field has leveled a bit now that we have these," said Gandalf as he himself picked up a handgun. "They may have more beings than us, but we have the benefit of using modern technology. With a few spells, I'm sure I can make these weapons more efficient than they already are."

"But, how do we know they work?" Pippin asked a little nervously. Obviously, the thought of using a defective gun against a group of Orcs had passed through his mind.

Legolas cocked and loaded his gun. "Hope against hope?"

"I'm sure," Gandalf said over the nervous laughter. "That the previous owners of these weapons didn't have them because they're broken."

When Pippin looked at him blankly, Gimli explained it to him.

"Think about it, Pip. This building was abandoned long before the Invasion. We're in an area of downtown where there used to be sirens going off every hour or so. Since Legolas found a couple of boxes full of illegal guns, what do you think this building was used for?"

Pippin's eyes widened when he finally understood that this building was probably used by a gang to keep its supplies.

"It also explains why one area up there smells like crack," Legolas said as he wrinkled his nose in disgust.

They all decided to put the guns back into the crates and that they'd fully examine them the next day.

--- ---

A/N: I just thought I'd throw in some more firepower for the Fellowship, seeing as how they don't exactly have a lot at the moment...


	13. An Elf's Night Out

They woke up to a bright, sunny day and beams of light shining through the office part of the building. It promised to be an optimal day to test their new artillery.

Legolas only needed about three or four hours of sleep each day, so while his friends were sleeping, he kept an eye on the weather and the situation outside of the warehouse. Out of curiosity, he went down into the basement of their home. When he turned the light on, he was only mildly surprised at what he saw.

The basement was really a small parking lot, obviously for the former workers of the warehouse. It looked like it was the setting of several gunfights in the past and that there used to be several cars in the parking spaces. The parking lot was empty except for a single space in the corner where a car sat with a cover on it and several boxes around it. It was protected by a steel cage.

When Legolas tried to open it, the cage sent an electrical surge through his body. Foregoing all patience, he shot the lock open with his Magnum and the door flew open. The whole cage sparkled with electricity for a second before faint smoke appeared from the wires.

Uncovering the car, he discovered a spiffy tricked-out Honda Civic in a sleek royal blue.

"Well, well, well," he said to himself. "Look at what we have here. Somebody left their street-racing flashlight behind." He looked into the backseat of the car and saw a tied-up body with a plastic bag tightly tied around its head. "Or not."

Ignoring the stench of the decomposing body, he found the key for the car and decided to take the car for a test ride. When he started the car, the interior lights glowed neon blue to match the exterior. Not wishing to attract more attention than he wanted to, he turned the lights off and sped out of the building.

The car ran quietly through the dark city and turned corners very much like a cat. As he went through the ghostly metropolis, he realized how damaged the city really was. With the orange glow of the working street lamps and the silver beams of light from the moon and stars, he stared at the ruins of his city.

Buildings were wearing away from the repeated brawls of the Neos and Parasite hosts. Streaks of dried blood littered the buildings, sidewalks and the road. Red-tinted skeletons and bones lay around the foot of the buildings and many of them had shreds of muscle and skin hanging from the white enamel.

However, every now and then, he passed a fully fleshed human body part. He was particularly disturbed by a single dismembered human head. The head lay on the street with half of its skull smashed open, revealing the bloody innards. Its remaining eye and its mouth were open in a state of frozen terror. White, squirming larvae had made the brain and open mouth their home.

Trying to cast the horrific image of the severed head, he noticed that the stench of the carcass in his backseat had become almost unbearable. Trying to relieve the smell, he opened the back windows and continued on his way through the city.

After a few moments of driving, he sensed, rather than saw, something was wrong. Glancing at the rearview mirror, he confirmed his suspicion.

A pack of four Neos were following him and rapidly catching up with the car. Their yellow and blood red eyes hungrily looked back at him in the mirror.

"Oh, shit, I'm in trouble," he said. A Neo snapped at his rear bumper and the whole pack screeched in fury. Reacting to the attack, Legolas quickly shifted gears and sped through the silent downtown with the pack closely following.

"They must've smelled YOU," he angrily said to the corpse in the back. "When I opened the windows, they must've picked up your scent and now the want you as a midnight snack. Great. If they get you, they'll try to get me and I definitely don't want to be joining you anytime soon."

He dodged a second attack from the Neos and exited the heart of the city into the urban sprawl. Although it wasn't as ruined as downtown, the streets still carried an eerie feeling.

A new Neo appeared next to his car from an adjacent street and attacked the side of his car. When he swerved to avoid it, he slammed the Neo into a parked car. It wasn't too surprising that it simply got up from the destroyed car, but he noticed that it carried a slight limp in its gait.

"Well," he muttered, "if that's how you guys want to play..." He shifted gears again and sped through the deserted neighborhood. As expected, the Neos followed him closely.

Quite suddenly, he turned a corner. In the rearview mirror, he risked a glance at his hunters. The leader slammed into a car and struggled to get back on its feet but the other four Neos easily turned the corner and glared menacingly. He turned another sharp corner and the remaining Neos now followed him with ease.

His eyes widened with fear and surprise as he looked back on the road and slammed the brakes. He had just tried to avoid a rather large fallen branch, but he didn't use the brakes fast enough. The car crashed into the branch and flipped over a couple times on the road. Using his reflexes, Legolas had undone his seat belt and opened the car door. Unfortunately, the impact sent him flying onto an unkempt lawn. He lay there for a moment, unconscious.

The Neos had already torn apart the car like wrapping paper and were starting to devour the corpse in the backseat when he sat up slowly on the lawn. He felt a steady trickle of warm blood going down the left side of his head and was not at all surprised by it.

The constant screeching of the Neos suddenly changed its tone and grew louder. Even in the dark, he could see four pairs of demonic eyes turn towards him. His hand tentatively reached for his gun, the only weapon he brought out with him that night. He waited for the Neos to make a move as they waited for him.

One of them accidentally slipped on the car and caused a fast sequence that resulted in the end of the hunt.

A Neo jumped from the car to the lawn with talons outstretched where Legolas was hiding a split second before. Instantly, a gunshot was heard and black blood protruded from the Neo's head. Three more gunshots were then fired and three neat holes were made on the car, all in the lower-back section of the car. Legolas could have been seen jumping over the fence of the yard just before the Honda Civic exploded into a magnificent ball of blue flame, engulfing the Neos in fire.

"Nitrogen-oxide gas," he said out loud as he jogged through the suburbs. "You just have to love its many uses."

He slowed down to a bare walk after half an hour of running and decided that it would be easier if he put his gun away. As he did so, he realized that he recognized his surroundings. They had a definite sense of familiarity in them. As he walked down the road and his footsteps echoed quietly around him, he confirmed that he knew where he was.

He paused outside of his own house, now empty and desolate. As he stood there, he remembered his life inside that house before the chaos had started. With surprise, he realized that it was a mere six or seven months ago that the most he was worried about was the reaction of his schoolmates to his pointy ears. It had seemed so much longer than that.

A soft glow in his bedroom window attracted his attention.

"What the hell is that?" he whispered. He ran a list of possible sources in his head. He left his TV on? No, it was broken before he even left. Glow stick he was handed from the last time he went clubbing? Those things couldn't possibly last that long. His room was turned into a small warehouse for energy sources for aliens from outer space? His brain definitely needed a vacation from that crazy shit.

Out of curiosity, he climbed through a broken window and looked around his barren house. Everything was almost exactly the same as he left it, except for the fact that everything had a thin layer of dust and several things were overturned. A trail of dried blood ran from the broken window to the rest of the house.

Not wanting to know what lay at the end of the trail, he went straight to his room to investigate the mysterious glowing.

Opening his door slowly so he wouldn't draw attention to himself, he glanced around his room. The glowing had apparently disappeared and nothing was too out of the ordinary. But, a bundle of clothes say on his bed.

"That's weird," he voiced out loud. "Didn't leave anything on my bed when I left." He picked up the bundle and recognized it as his cloak from the museum. The emerald-green leaf of Lorien faintly shined as he looked at it. "I thought I put you in the closet..."

He glanced back at his closet fast enough to see his bedroom door swing silently towards him and a movement down the stairs. Whatever it was, it was giving off a slight glow.

"Hey, wait!" he yelled. He quickly put on the cloak around his shoulders and ran out the door. Just as he looked over the banister to see who it was, the front door slammed shut. He cursed and jumped over the banister to the ground floor. Unharmed, he ran out into the night.

The eerie glow was just outside of Aragorn's old house and it turned to Legolas, as if it was waiting for him. As Legolas approached the glow, he recognized its blue eyes and Middle-Earthen clothing.

"Boromir," he said with amazement. "You're back in our world. What are you here for?"

"My things," he replied. His voice echoed slightly with a sad tone. "I've been trying to find the lost spirits of Gondor, but I haven't found any. That's why I wanted to see my old things. For inspiration, you could say."

"Oh. Well, any luck about the Horn of Gondor, the Light of Earendil or the whereabouts of this mysterious Master who's apparently behind all this carnage? It'd really help us if you know anything because we have basically no fucking idea about any of them."

Legolas was honestly expecting Boromir to shake his head in despair, say "no", go inside to see his old belongings again or even disappear entirely at his question. That's why he was surprised when Boromir's glow was suddenly brighter and a smile cracked his usual stony face.

"Yeah, I actually do."

"What? Which one? Where is it?"

He scoffed. Legolas was again reminded that the two of them were still teenagers in this Age.

"I'm not going to tell you!" Boromir said with a look of disbelief on his face. Before Legolas could utter a sound of indignation, he added, "After I see my things, I'll show you." He left Legolas standing on the sidewalk with a look of annoyance and reluctant submission on his face.

"I see that charming wit of yours hasn't left you," Legolas said sarcastically as he caught up. He opened the door to Aragorn's house.

Boromir chuckled grimly at his remark. "Just like your princely arrogance stayed with you even after all these years? By the way, nice haircut." He silently walked up the stairs to Aragorn's bedroom.

"Shut up," he growled. He automatically ran his fingers through his short hair, which grew rather messily, giving him that permanent tousled look. He went inside and entered Aragorn's bedroom. "Still holding a grudge for that time I pushed you into a huge snow bank on Caradhras and ran away on the snow, leaving you stuck there for a couple hours?"

Boromir was already looking through Aragorn's closet when he came into the room. He was currently trying to move some clothes out of the way.

"Actually, no. The grudge is from that little war you and Aragorn waged against Jack and me. If I'm not mistaken, you stole my pants while I was changing for gym and threw them into the girl's washroom."

"Oh, yeah," he said, remembering the event and chuckling. "But you got me back by actually locking me in the girl's washroom. All's fair in love and war, isn't it? Do you want me to help you with that!"

Boromir was wrestling with the clothes in the closet the whole time they were talking and Legolas couldn't bear to see him struggle with something so simple any longer. He let go of the clothes and sighed in defeat.

"Beaten by a bunch of clothes... How pathetic. Well, if you don't mind, Legolas."

Carefully walking past him, Legolas easily pushed most of the contents of the closet aside and pulled out things and clothes from inside so he could get to the bottom.

"Aragorn has got to learn how to organize his clothes," he said from inside the closet. Digging at the bottom of a pile, he pulled out Boromir's re-forged sword, his golden belt from Galadriel, bracers that had the White Tree on it, and two cloaks each with a green leaf brooch and he tossed it all at Boromir's semi-transparent feet. "That's all of it, I believe. Too bad Aragorn stuck it all together to make a big, tangled mess."

They both crouched onto the floor and began to dismantle the pile of equipment.

"Galadriel actually found the remaining bits of my sword and put it all back together?" he muttered, voicing his thoughts. He managed to pull the sword from the confusing pile, with Legolas' help, and laid it on the floor. "She truly is an extraordinary elf, even of her stature."

"Actually, Aragorn, Gimli and I picked up the rest of your sword and your things and sent them with your body down the river Anduin." His eyes avoided Boromir's as he tried to untangle the golden belt from a cloak and the bracers. "What, no snide comment?"

"I don't have one. But, thanks, all the same."

Legolas grinned in what he had hoped was a nonchalant way, but he said quite warmly, "You're welcome."

After a few minutes of frustration, Legolas finally managed to separate Boromir's belongings and laid them on the floor. With grim satisfaction, he looked up. "So what're you going to do with them?"

"Use them," he replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How? You can barely turn a doorknob, let alone use the sword."

Boromir simply took hold of the hilt of his sword and lifted a ghostly counterpart of it. He did the same to his golden belt and his bracers and put them on. He tried picking up a cloak, but it didn't work. Legolas held the other one out to him and he successfully duplicated it.

"Us... ghosts..." he started to explain grimly. "We can only replicate things from the living world to the dead one if the item was ours. That's something I learned from a few specters that hang around here."

"What do they say about all this?"

"They say that a single beam of Light can't stand a chance against the oncoming Darkness. But I told them that the world doesn't have a single beam of Light; it has nine. And I also told them that there's going to be a hell of a lot more rays of Light to battle the Darkness soon enough."

"All right, Boromir!" he said approvingly. He stood up and looked out the window. The sky was starting to turn from a dark, inky blue to a steely gray. He started to see tinges of gold on the horizon. "Dawn is coming. Are you going to tell me about whatever it is that you know or not?"

"Didn't I tell you? Or did you simply forget?" Boromir got up and floated out the window. "I'll show you."


	14. The Horn's Home

Boromir floated down to the sidewalk and beckoned Legolas to come. He nervously looked down the two-story window and saw the drainpipe near the window. He quickly, but neatly, wrapped Boromir's belongings with a cloak and, using a belt from Aragorn's closet, he secured it on his back like a pack.

"Do you want me to show you or not?" Boromir's voice rang through the early morning air.

He jumped onto the windowsill, leapt and grabbed the drainpipe and slid down to the ground. He came up to Boromir and noticed that he was blurred around the edges.

"You never had much patience, you know."

"Well, when the sun rises properly, you won't be able to see me," he retorted anxiously. He swiftly drifted down the street. "That's why I suggest you hurry up!"

"That means we only have about forty-five minutes," Legolas said after stealing a glance at the eastern horizon. He sprinted down the street after Boromir's glow, which was growing dimmer every minute.

The ghost of Boromir floated through fences, buildings and cars to follow an easier, faster path than Legolas'. He led him on a route that the both of them knew much too well.

"It can't be where I think you're leading me," he panted. He sprinted to catch up to him. "You have to be joking."

"I would never joke about something like this." He stopped about a block away from a brown brick box that was once called a building. He directed Legolas to a dense bush for him to hide in. "Dawn is almost upon us. I have to leave you soon, but I have some instructions for you."

Legolas crouched low on the grass and looked at his fading body. He waited patiently for him.

"Spirits that wander the city know things about their home that no mortal can understand now. I have heard from the other ghosts that something of an ancient age is in that building. When I heard about it, I went to investigate. I didn't even need to go closer than a hundred meters to feel a sense of familiarity coming from that building. It's a feeling that I feel right now: the feeling of coming home."

"Are you saying," he whispered, "that the Horn of Gondor resides in that very building in front of me?"

"Yes. But I must tell you something quickly. Once you take the Horn into your hands, the force of Light will grow stronger. For a few minutes, whoever has the Horn will be sending out very strong magical signals. So you might as well have a spotlight on you, as far as the Darkness is concerned. In a matter of moments, an army of Orcs, Neos and Parasite hosts will be on your back. If you're not out of that building before they come, you'll be helping me find spirits of the ancient past."

"Great. So I have about five minutes to run once I get the Horn? Or else I'm a Host or Neo food, whichever."

"Yeah, that's if you're planning on going in there now without anybody to watch your back, which I seriously don't recommend."

"Why not?"

"Look into the windows."

A weak ray of light hit a musty window and illuminated the gangly figure of a Neo sprawled on the windowsill, sleeping. Looking closer, he could see more sleeping bodies faintly stirring in the rooms within. One of the Neos blearily opened a demonic eye and gave a huge hissing yawn, showing its dozens of sharp, glistening teeth and the insides of its mouth to the sun.

"Neos," Legolas muttered. "I loathe Neos."

"Everybody does. Go back to Aragorn and the others. Take possession of the Horn and seek refuge in the forest, but whatever you do, don't use it. The spirits of old get a little... harassed if you try to summon them more than once." Sunlight inched closer and closer. He started to become even more transparent and his voice echoed more. "Until we are summoned to duty, Legolas, farewell."

"Wait!" he cried out, but it was too late. Boromir's spirit had vanished from his sight with a sigh of the wind. He looked at the space where he had stood a moment ago and said softly, "Until then, Boromir."

With one last look at the building, which was becoming steadily more active, he quietly made his way from the yard to the streets. He went through the suburbs to downtown, keeping his stride long and silent. His thoughts were on the Horn and the upcoming doom.

As he started down the street away from the infested building, he was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't see or feel a set of eyes follow him. A set of eyes that didn't belong to a Neo and were luminous.

"Hmm..."

--- ---

Aragorn woke up to the sound of Gandalf cooking in the kitchen. The hobbits and Gimli were still asleep around him on the floor and on the couch. He got up, stretched and went over to Gandalf.

"Good morning, Aragorn. How do you like your eggs?"

"Morning, Gandalf," he yawned. "Eggs? Oh, I like them scrambled. No, wait, sunny-side up. You know what? Just surprise me."

"If you really want me to." He flipped a few eggs over on the frying pan. "You don't know where our elf is, do you?"

"The elf? No, I have no idea where Legolas is. You know how he is at night." He started going through the refrigerator to drink. "He loves to explore the area. Hell, I'd go with him if I could."

"Your nature as a Ranger combined with the recklessness and impudence of youth is a dangerous mix, Aragorn."

"That combination helps me keep out of trouble."

"That combination, more often than not, is what gets you into trouble in the first place."

He laughed and raised his glass of orange juice. "That's true. Cheers to that, too."

The hobbits and Gimli had already woken up and they were all having some breakfast when a knock came at the door. They all looked at each other, confused.

"Aragorn, you get it," said Merry.

"What? Why me?"

"Because you're closest to the door."

"What-- Oh, fine."

He got up from the table, got his sword from the nearby wall and cautiously went to the door. His instincts told him to be careful because he sensed that whatever that was on the other side of the door was dangerous. His hand slowly inched towards the knob as his other arm raised his sword.

"Could you please just open the stupid door?" Legolas' voice asked impatiently through the threshold.

Startled that his friend's voice called through the door, Aragorn immediately opened the door for him. What met his eyes was not completely what he had expected to find looking back at him.

Legolas was leaning heavily against the doorframe with one hand and rubbing his injured head with the other. When he withdrew his hand from his head, it was covered in red blood. His clothes were dirty and ripped in several places. The front of his shirt was stained with drops of black blood and he was covered from head to toe with scratches and scrapes.

"Legolas!" exclaimed Aragorn. He quickly shut the door after the tired elf walked inside. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Pippin retrieved the first-aid kit as Legolas wearily collapsed on the couch. Everyone else abandoned their breakfast to make sure that he was okay. He handed the pack from his back to the nearest person to him.

"Whose is this?" Gandalf asked as he unraveled the belt from the tangle of cloth.

"Boromir's. I... sort of... ended up back in my old neighborhood."

"What happened, Legolas?" Aragorn asked again. He took the first-aid kit from Pippin and sat next to the bleeding side of him.

"Well, it started with me finding a --- Ow! Aragorn!" Instinctively, he grabbed his wrist, which was very near his head, and pushed it away.

"What?" His hand held a wet cotton ball that was faintly tainted with his friend's blood.

"Just... warn me next time," he answered irritably.

Aragorn simply rolled his eyes and continued cleaning his wounds. As he did so, Legolas told the group what had happened the previous night, starting from finding the Honda Civic to ending up at Aragorn's old home and talking to Boromir's ghost. He paused for a moment to let Aragorn wrap the bandage properly.

"So Boromir and other ghosts also know of the impending doom," observed Gandalf. He was admiring the Gondorian sword as Aragorn and Frodo were bandaging Legolas' head. "What do they say?"

"The spirits? If I remember correctly, Boromir said that they think we're fighting a losing battle."

"How nice," Gimli said sarcastically.

"Aren't they? But Boromir stood up for us and told them off by telling a lot of help is coming. He was a good man, Boromir."

"Yeah, he was," Aragorn said pensively.

"So that was it?" Gimli asked. "You started to head back here after that?"

"Not quite. He told me where the Horn of Gondor was. He led me to where it's supposed to be hidden."

Aragorn and Frodo immediately stopped bandaging at his words. Gandalf dropped Boromir's sword with a loud clang and tremendous shock. Sam and Merry simply looked at him with surprise and open mouths while Pippin nearly spat out some juice. Gimli stood and stared at him with disbelief.

"You're joking," stuttered Gimli. "You know where the Horn of Gondor is?"

"Yep."

"Then what're we waiting for? Let's go and get it!" He eagerly looked around at his comrades. Most of them were seriously considering that option as a course of action.

"I am sorry, Master Dwarf," Legolas said, slightly deflating the happy bubble that appeared in his friends' hearts and temporarily reverting to his old self. "But that would be unadvisable without the proper knowledge."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, we can't just waltz in there, take the Horn and calmly walk out of the building." The teenage Legolas retook control of the dominant part of his psyche. "This requires a bit more skill."

"What do you mean?" asked Frodo.

"That place is currently the happy home of at lease five dozen Neos. And we all know what a single Neo can do, let alone a whole group of them. In the daytime, orcs patrol the streets of that area. They're the ones who usually break into the houses, steal the jewelry and raid the fridges for decent food. Right now, fresh food is running a tad low, so the orcs are on sharper lookout for fresh meat. Their eyesight and the Neos' keen sense of smell combined means that, if we step within a kilometer radius of that place, they'd know of our presence."

"Oh, great. So how're we going to get in?"

"Go during the night?" suggested Sam. "I doubt that they'd keep the same amount of orcs out at night, since they seem to have adapted to the daylight."

"Nighttime would be a little better than in the day... But you guys aren't used to staying up all night."

"We already stay up until three in the morning," interjected Merry. "I don't think that's too bad at all. Plus, once we get some Orcs or Neos running after us, we'll be plenty awake."

"Night it is," said Gandalf with a tone of finality as Aragorn and Legolas started a small fight about a crack Aragorn made about the condition of Legolas' supposed lack of mental agility.

With Legolas firmly pinned face down on the couch, Aragorn brought up a valid point. "Five dozen Neos in one place, not including Orcs and possibly Uruk-Hai? I think we need some more firepower aside from the guns."

"The guns are the strongest things we have," Sam pointed out. "If we're not going to use the guns, what are we going to use?"

"Magically-enhanced guns." Gandalf motioned the young Aragorn to release the helpless Elf so he could ask him something. "I'm assuming that they work, that is. Am I right, Legolas?"

"The hand-helds work perfectly but they'd work even better against the Darkness if you made them a bit stronger with magic," he replied from the depths of the couch cushion. Aragorn had only released his head and upper body, so he was still a hostage on the couch. "Can't be too sure about the long arms, though."

"Well then, I suppose that is what we'll be doing today, boys. I believe we have some silencers in one of those crates over there so we'll have some fun testing them after a good, solid meal."

"Will you be enchanting them after we test them, Mr. Gandalf, sir?" asked Sam. He was hoping to see some of the old magic.

"Of course, Samwise! You don't expect to vanquish a full building of Dark creatures quickly with an ordinary gun, do you?" He then got up and started to resume his breakfast at the kitchen table. Only Sam and Frodo had joined him, however.

Legolas had already succeeded in throwing Aragorn off his back and was currently holding him secure on the floor. Gimli was offering him Aragorn's own belt to tie him to a chair and was desperately trying not to laugh at the straining Man. The two Hobbits, Merry and Pippin, were openly laughing at him and goading Legolas to take the belt.

"You wouldn't dare, Legolas," Aragorn called up to him from the floor.

"Yeah, I would," he laughed. He took the belt from Gimli and fastened Aragorn's hands behind his back tight enough to keep him helpless for a few moments but loose enough so he could get out of the restraints himself. As he settled back on the couch, he said with a grin, "See?"

After a moment of entertainment by watching Aragorn struggle, Pippin furrowed his brow with a sudden thought.

"Hey, Legolas, you never told us where the Horn was hidden."

"That's because you never asked." He calmly watched Aragorn finally rid himself of his belt and turn to him with hostility in his eyes.

"Oh. Right. So where is it, then?"

The next words that came out of his mouth shocked everyone so much that even the enraged Aragorn stopped in his tracks.

"It's in the school. S. J. Carnil."


	15. A Friend Stops By

For the majority of the day, the Fellowship had some fun by testing all the guns in both crates and helping Gandalf enchant them. While they tested their weaponry on some slabs of fallen concrete, they discussed the plans for that night and where the Horn might be located.

"It can't be somewhere that's too easily accessed," said Merry. He unloaded a few clips onto his target from his rifle. "So it has to be somewhere we haven't been before."

"The principal's office, maybe?" Sam suggested.

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli burst out laughing when they heard that possibility.

"Sorry, but trust us, Sam," Gimli choked out, "it's not in the principal's office."

His face fell when his companions laughed at his idea. "Why can't it be in there?" he demanded.

"Because we spent so much time in there that the principal knew everything about us by the time grade 9 was over," replied Aragorn. "She even knew what kind of music I liked."

"How about the girl's change room?" Frodo said.

"Nope. Been there," said Aragorn, Legolas and Merry at the same time.

Everyone stopped firing their guns and looked at the three of them. Gandalf, who was once their teacher at school, gave them a reprimanding gaze.

"That was half of the reasons why me and Aragorn were with the principal so much," explained Legolas with an almost proud manner. "I'm just surprised that Merry, of all people, has been in there."

The hobbit shrugged offhandedly. "It was a dare. Pippin told me to do it."

"It's not like you didn't enjoy it!" Pippin said defensively.

Before they could have a nice laugh about the innocent days before the Darkness, they caught sight of Gandalf who turned his gaze into a very authoritative, stern glare.

"Sorry, sir," the guilty party said in unison and automatically went back to target practice.

"Well," said Frodo after a few moments of quiet, "if it's hidden somewhere in the school, it's likely that it's somewhere we don't know about."

"A secret room?" Sam said skeptically. "I don't think that schools would have secret rooms, Mister Frodo. Not our school, at least."

"You never know, Sam. That's why it's secret."

"Good point... So how are we going to find it?"

"Go inside, don't get eaten and hope that the Horn will fall right into our laps," Gimli mumbled sarcastically.

"We search for it, Master Gamgee," said Aragorn. "What do you think we're going to do? Run around, screaming our heads off?"

"We don't need to scream our heads off," Legolas said. He was taking aim with a sniper rifle as he talked. "There are plenty of Orcs and Neos available to cut them off for us."

Everybody had an instant image of either theirs or one of their friends' head being cut off and rolling across the floor. Pippin and Legolas had distinct disgusted expressions on their faces and were gently gripping their own necks.

"My point exactly," said Sam. "How are we going to look for the damned Horn when we have a couple dozen Neos and Orcs coming after us to eat our skin?"

"We have two options: be as silent as the wind so that the Neos don't wake," suggested Gandalf. "Or someone volunteers to be bait."

"I think I speak for everyone here when I say we'll be as quiet as a mouse."

A general murmur of agreement went through the line of fire. The pile of tested, working guns grew bigger and bigger as the day wore on. By the end of the afternoon, only the heaviest firearms were left in the crates.

"We can't bring these things around with us," said Merry after it was discovered that both Aragorn and Legolas were needed to carry one of those weapons. "So what are we going to do with them?"

Everyone looked at each other, each looking for a solution from the other. Gandalf, who was enhancing a pistol with his staff at that time, had an idea.

"If Aragorn and Legolas can handle it, we can set the larger ones onto the rooftop. It would strengthen our defenses if anything should happen."

"And, considering our situation, something probably will," commented Gimli.

"What a bright ray of sunshine you are, Gimli," said Legolas, purposely provoking the Dwarf. "Your comments fill our hearts with so much hope."

He merely glared at the Elf, knowing that he was being taunted. He was trying very hard to keep his temper over the past few months upon the pleas and requests of the others.

Legolas was about to open his mouth to test his patience once more when Gandalf attracted his attention.

"Legolas! Aragorn!"

"Yes?" Both of them snapped to alertness.

"Get to work." He pointed his staff to the heavy artillery.

Grumbling and complaining, they started to transport the weapons onto the rooftop. Gimli mockingly watched them toil.

"Gimli, what are you laughing at?" Gandalf asked casually as he continued enchanting the firearms.

"Aragorn and Legolas. Especially Legolas."

"Why do you laugh at them? You're going to be helping them once they get back down here. They still have quite a few pieces of equipment to move."

The Hobbits, who were gathered around Gandalf, all laughed at Gimli's horrified expression. It quickly turned into a sour, reluctant look of acceptance. Once the other boys came back down from the roof, he willingly helped them but not without complaining the entire time.

Merry was reviewing the art of using a staffed weapon with Gandalf when Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were finished with installing the heavy artillery on the roof.

"We're finally done," Gimli sighed. He took a step back to admire their work.

A few sniper rifles sat with their nozzles pointing to the street. A semi-automatic loomed dangerously behind them, ready to fire at any time. Dozens of rifle magazines were set neatly in between the guns, silently sitting beside each other, all with the potential to pierce bodies and take life away. The semi-automatic's ammunition sat next to it like an obedient hound waiting for its master to call for its help.

"We're finally finished," Gimli said again. He let out a satisfied sigh. "Legolas, you just HAD to remember about the semi that was hidden downstairs, didn't you?"

"A stronger defense means a greater chance of us living," he replied. "I just assumed that you wanted to live."

"But it you don't want to," began Aragorn, "it's quite a long drop from the roof."

"No, no," Gimli said quickly. "Don't be mistaken; I like to live."

"But, if you ever change your mind, we'll be right here waiting," reassured Legolas. He and Aragorn chuckled at Gimli's expression, which showed his doubt about their mental health.

"You're both crazy."

"Let's hope I am," Aragorn said. His happy mood disappeared when he saw a shadow move down the street. He leaned on the railing to give him a steady grip as he watched the silent street ahead of him.

"It's nothing, Aragorn," Gimli said gruffly. "Probably just a rat."

"That's a pretty big rat," Legolas muttered. His superior eyesight pierced the dusk light and focused between two buildings where the shadows were moving.

"I don't suppose you remember if you saw anything following you, did you?" Aragorn asked him. The both of them were still staring at the shifting shadow.

"No. It's a miracle I made it back here in one piece alone, considering the amount of monsters out to get us."

The three of them kept staring at the alley, looking for something incriminating about the shadow, aside from the abnormal size of it. The dumpster in the alley rattled, causing the large shadow to jump and bare a gangly hand out onto the street. The being let out a tiny, raspy gasp only heard by Legolas as it hid itself again.

"I think an old friend just came over for some tea," Legolas said coolly. He started to walk towards the elevator. He called over his shoulder, "Cover me, would you? Just in case."

"Will do," assured Aragorn. He and Gimli promptly loaded a couple of rifles as the elevator descended to the warehouse.

When the elevator doors opened, Legolas was mildly surprised at what he saw. All four Hobbits were holding bottles in their hands and Gandalf was smoking his pipe. What was really surprising was the fact that the Hobbits were singing a song.

"Hey, to the bottle I go," they sang together, "to heal my heart and drown my woes. The rain may fall, the wind may blow, but there's still be-e-e many miles to go…"

Legolas cocked a questioning eyebrow at Gandalf. "You let them have alcohol?"

He let out a twisting smoke ring escape as he replied, "It's only Coke. Nothing to worry about. I just thought they could enjoy some good spirits before we go to the school."

"We should always do this before we go back to school," proposed Pippin.

"That's provided that we'll live to actually attend school again, Pip," Sam pointed out.

"Is something wrong, Legolas?" asked Frodo. He watched the Elf gather his personal weapons and tossed him Sting. "What do I need this for? What's going on?"

Legolas strung up his bow and led Frodo to the door. "We've an old friend slinking around outside. You're helping me bring him in."

Gandalf quickly put away his pipe and stood up. He called out to Legolas to explain what was happening, but he and Frodo were already outside the door. He turned to look at the remaining Hobbits, who were clearly both anxious and nervous.

Outside, they were talking in low voices about how to capture the creature. Legolas had asked how it would react to a surprise.

"It will try and escape," answered Frodo. "If we were still in the Wild, he would have had a pretty good chance of slipping out of our hands and getting away from us."

"But we're not in the Wild, are we?" He pulled a devious grin. "And he's stuck between two buildings, too. Only two ways out. Very careless of him."

"It's his mistake for not knowing the ways of this world." He listened carefully to the plan Legolas had formulated in his mind.

Frodo silently turned the corner of the building with Sting fully bared. His shadow stretched down the alleyway with the blood-red sun setting behind him. The creature jumped at the sudden and immediate threat that appeared.

"Hello, Gollum."

Gollum shrieked and tried to run out of the other end of the alleyway but he ran right into the arms of Legolas.

"Did you have a nice time following me, Gollum?"

Gollum merely continued to shriek and thrash around in his arms. He released him with a pained cry when he received a very nasty bite on his arm. Gollum would have got away if Frodo hadn't managed to pin him against the wall and point Sting directly at his throat.

"You remember Sting, don't you?" Frodo said in a low voice. "I'd be surprised if you didn't; this is the third time you've stared down the blade of it."

"We does, precious, we does," he whimpered. "We remembers the nasty Sting and we remembers master. We could never forget precious master."

"Of course you can't forget me," snarled Frodo. An unusual bitterness penetrated his words. "How can you? I possessed your Precious and you took it from me by biting my finger off!"

"Frodo! Calm down," said Legolas. "Let's just bring him inside the warehouse and keep him there. We don't want him to be going back to his Dark Master anytime soon, do we? Plus, he may be of good use in the future."

After tying him up effectively with a piece of wire they found, they led him back into the warehouse. As they did so, Legolas quickly signaled that the situation was resolved to the shooters on the roof who immediately stood down.

"Where are they taking us, precious?" Gollum whimpered. "What are they going to do to us?" He kept simpering as Frodo and Legolas brought him inside.

Everyone was stunned at the capture of Gollum, mostly because they all thought that he had died thousands of years before. Sam was the first to speak.

"So the Stinker is back," he said. "Is the Slinker still with him? Or is he playing from a different bag of tricks now?"

"That's a little mean, Sam," said Pippin, He had heard a lot about Gollum and Smeagol over the past few months but could hardly believe that Sam could be so cold to him.

"You'd be mean to him too, if he had nothing but the thought of killing you in your sleep engraved into his mind," spat Sam. "I just can't trust Gollum."

"But, but Hobbitses can trust Smeagol," begged Smeagol, who was forced into consciousness by Gollum. "Even tall Elveses can trust Smeagol. Smeagol can be trusted, we swears."

"He can't be trusted! Neither of them!"

"He can't be trusted," repeated Gandalf. "Not right now." He stooped to look at Smeagol in the eyes. "You must understand that we can't trust you because of what you did in the past, no matter how long ago that was. If you want us to trust you, you must earn our trust."

"But nice Hobbitses and Elveses can trust Smeagol. We swears, we swears! We will swears on the Precious again!" He turned to Frodo, the former Ringkeeper. "We begs you! Trust us and don't treat us like slaves. Smeagol is good."

"It's not Smeagol I'm worried about," said Frodo. He looked deep into his eyes and saw Gollum and his malice and rage deep within Smeagol's mind. "It's Gollum who troubles me."

Aragorn and Gimli appeared on the floor from the elevator. They were both finishing strapping on their gun holsters and weapon carriers.

"So this is the famous Gollum," growled Gimli. He went over and started to inspect Smeagol closely, which made him very nervous.

"It's Smeagol," corrected Frodo. "Not Gollum. Not yet. Gollum's a lot more vicious. And I'd advise you to keep a fair distance from both."

"Oh?" He looked up form peering into Smeagol's eyes. "Why is that?"

Smeagol suddenly lunged forward, snarling and trying to gnash his teeth into Gimli who immediately jumped back.

"Because he hates it when people look at him like that and he bites pretty hard."

Startled, he replied, "I'll try to remember that."

Aragorn was busy loading his car with some extra equipment and supplies while Gimli got a closer look at Smeagol. Legolas was helping Merry and Pippin with their holsters and Gandalf was putting on his sword belt and making sure that his sword was in good working order. Frodo had successfully secured Smeagol to a chair and made sure that the chair couldn't move for more than a couple meters.

"I'm sorry, Smeagol," he said as he made sure that the rope was tied well. "But we just can't you running to the Dark Master, telling him about us and showing us freely to it."

"Hey, Frodo!"

Merry was waving for him to get into Aragorn's car. Gandalf was busy talking to Sam, who was looking quite sullen.

"Frodo, come on! Get in the car!"

"Why?"

Legolas threw on his Lorien cloak around his shoulders and got his helmet on. He got onto his bike and revved the engine, savoring the sound and feel of his BMW.

"Why?" he repeated through his helmet. "Because the sun has set. It's time to go."

--- ---

A/N: By the way, that's part of the real Hobbit Drinking Song from both the movie (Extended Fellowship of the Ring) and from the book.


	16. Back to School Pt 1

The silver moon peeked out from behind a veil of clouds and illuminated the way for the two drivers, Aragorn and Legolas. Pippin was holding onto the rear handlebars of the BMW with his life.

"You all right back there, Pip?" Legolas called back. Pippin saw his blue eyes flash back to glance at him.

"I will be," he replied. This was his first time on a motorcycle and the only thing that was going through his mind was how fast they were going and how close the ground was.

Frodo, Merry and Gimli were piled into the backseat of Aragorn's Benz with Merry's scythe laid across their laps. Gandalf was sitting in the front passenger seat with an odd gleam in his eye. While speeding down a stretch of highway, Aragorn noticed.

"Nervous?" he asked. He looked at his passengers through his rearview mirror. The two Hobbits were anxious but were trying not to show it. Gimli was fingering his axe and wore a small smile on his face. "Clearly, Gimli is looking forward to it."

"I never look forward to war, Aragorn," he said gruffly. "I only look forward to a good fight."

"Same difference," muttered Aragorn.

"It's literally been thousands of years since I've been in a good fight," said Gandalf. "But I don't suppose there's something called a good fight. Only fair ones."

"Yeah, but where's the fun in those?" said Aragorn in an attempt to lighten the mood. Merry and Gimli chuckled ruefully at his remark while Gandalf seemed less nervous.

"Do you think it was a good idea to leave Sam alone with Smeagol?" Frodo asked suddenly. His eyes were directed to the passing buildings but they didn't see them. "I don't think we should've left him."

"We needed to leave one behind to look after Smeagol," explained Gandalf, "and Sam was the best choice to look after the creature. Gimli would have undoubtedly grown tiresome of his constant one-sided conversations. Merry and Pippin would've been in risk of being injured by Gollum. Legolas needs to go on this mission because he knows more about the location of the Horn and the effects when we retrieve it. I know more about the school than any of you and you, Frodo, seem to be holding a grudge against him. That could lead to problems if you're left alone together for a long period of time."

"Sam is used to Gollum's ramblings," admitted Frodo, "and he does know how to handle him if he gets out of hand. But why didn't Aragorn stay behind?"

"Let's put it this way," Aragorn said. "Who would you rather have on your side of the battle: Sam or me?"

"Well, when you put it that way..."

The car phone rang suddenly, rattling their already shaken nerves. As it rang, Legolas and Pippin sped in front of them. Gandalf pressed the button to answer the phone.

"_Ai, mellon_!" Legolas' voice called through the phone. "The off-ramp's just ahead, but I already caught a glimpse at the school and I highly recommend we park at least five blocks away from the school."

"Is it that bad?" Gandalf asked with a worried tone.

"Well, there's a lot more things moving around the schoolyard than last night. Can't tell right now if they're Orcs or Neos. Mind you, I was at the school at the break of dawn."

"So the situation is a little different," said Aragorn. "It'd be a pretty good idea to park further away and get to the school on foot. Lead the way, Legolas."

The motorcycle rumbled down the off-ramp with Aragorn's car following swiftly behind. Everybody, except for Legolas, hadn't been out of the downtown area since the Invasion. The houses all had the windows smashed into millions of shards of glass, which were scattered around the street. The silver moonlight reflected in the shards, glittering like diamonds in the night, the only beautiful thing that could be seen.

The winking glass covered the ground and everything that lay upon it. Fell trees, overturned cars, scraps of wood and plaster from rampaged houses all sparkled faintly in moonlight. Much too often they passed a large concentration of red-tinged pieces of miniscule glass. It would usually be a sign of a body nearby but they rarely saw one. Pippin had the misfortune to seeing one as they sped by.

The moonlight had showed a bony hand with its muscle torn apart with bits and pieces of skin and sinew frayed on the bones. That would have been all he saw if the motorcycle headlight hadn't unfortunately cast more light onto the body. The rib cage had been roughly opened and the insides were crudely emptied. The skull was sitting on the lawn nearby with its face, thankfully, turned the other way but hair was ripped out savagely and the ripped skin was still visible. The body was laid in a very awkward way, as if it was tossed around. Blood stained the sidewalk, showing the fact that it was a recent killing.

"Oh, my God," he moaned after seeing the body. "That is horrible."

"Get used to it," Legolas called back to him.

They quietly parked their vehicles about five blocks away from the school in a couple of garages so they wouldn't arouse suspicion. Stealthily, they made their way to the school. As usual, Legolas led the Fellowship and kept a good eye out for any immediate dangers. The Hobbits had no problem getting there without being seen, but the others, especially Gimli, needed a little help to travel without being detected. Eventually, they all arrived at the bush where Boromir had shown the school to Legolas.

"Just as you expected, Legolas," said Gandalf in a low voice. "The area is a lot more active than we first thought. There are actually fiends walking around in the fields."

"What do you suppose we should do?" asked Merry.

A faint glow appeared behind him and tapped his shoulder. He would have screamed out loud if Frodo and Pippin weren't fast enough to muffle him. Boromir grinned at Merry's reaction and bowed to them all.

"I apologize for frightening you, Merry," he said. "But now you needn't worry about the demons." He grinned again to all of them. "Just leave them to me."

He vanished and reappeared on the field, looking very solid. He got the Neos' attention by plunging a ghostly hand into one of their heads. He ran away at a mortally impossible speed but slow enough to keep the Neos following him.

Aragorn thanked Boromir mentally and motioned for the others to follow him quietly through the field into the school. They were holding their weapons tightly so they would make minimal noise and also out of extreme tension.

Inside, their footsteps echoed dispiritedly through the halls. The same slash marks that covered the buildings were present everywhere within the school. Classroom doors were ripped apart with only splinters and hinges as evidence that they had once existed there. Desks were twisted and splintered, scattered around the hallways and in classrooms. The lockers were all dented and some of them hung pathetically open, showing the destroyed items inside.

"When I said I wished the school would be destroyed, I didn't mean it," Gimli muttered darkly.

"Now that it is," said Frodo, "I think I liked it better when it was fully intact. I also hope that my stuff in my locker's still fine."

Something stirred at the back of Pippin's mind but a distant noise distracted him. It was coming from a classroom across the hall. He went to take a quick investigation.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Fellowship continued walking through the school. They cautiously looked through the main office with hope of finding the Horn. Gimli kept a sharp eye outside and promised them a warning if any danger arose. Merry went straight for the principal's desk and withdrew a cell phone.

"Hey, Pippin!" he called. "I finally got my cell phone back." Silence met his ears. "Pippin?"

He poked his head out the door and saw Gandalf tapping the walls with his staff for any magically hidden cavities and Frodo was busy looking through the cupboards and drawers. He could see Gimli's nervous back outside and Legolas and Aragorn searching through the vice-principal's office.

"Where's Pippin?" he asked, trying not to panic. "Does anybody know where he is?"

"Oh, he's just --" Frodo looked around the office and realized Pippin was absent. "Oh, shit...

"PIPPIN!"

His name echoed through the halls, but he was two floors above, trying to steel his nerves to go into the classroom. He slowly pushed the door open and peeked inside with bated breath. An image that paralyzed him met his eyes.

The classroom was infested with Neos and two Orcs, who were obviously the Neos' handlers, were dozing in the far corner of the room. The moonlight spilled in and illuminated a small knot of hunched Neos. A writhing hand stuck out from the group and gradually grew still as the snarling continued. The Orcs in the corner paid no attention, as if it happened on a regular basis. The Parasite attempted to escape and find another host but an Orc swiftly brought down its sword and the Parasite burst into halves.

"Accursed Parasite," growled the Orc. It watched as it spilled all of its black blood and slowly stopped thrashing about. "It would've went for us if it got away."

Pippin was already silently creeping away from the room when a faint sound met his ears. It should have been faint and inaudible but his fear heightened his senses and he could hear Frodo calling his name. Eyes wide, he tried to get away from the hall without getting noticed. A change in pitch of the snarling told him it was impossible.

The door burst open just as Pippin ran around the corner. He could hear the unsure growls of the Orcs behind him. It sounded like they were debating which direction to go. Over theirs and the Neos' growls, he could hear some indistinct movement in the hallways.

He suddenly realized that he passed his locker. Listening carefully for the Orcs and Neos, he doubled back and quietly opened his beat-up locker. _Never thought I'd be happy to see this locker again_, he thought.

Heart pounding, he heard the Neos screech with enthusiasm and their terrifying footsteps beating the floor. In one movement, he grabbed his skateboard from his locker, tossed it to the ground and streaked down the halls. The pounding of the floor told him that they were on the move.

"Pippin!" Merry's head popped out from a stairwell just ahead of him and filled with relief with he realized he was still alive.

"Get out of the school!" he yelled to him as he passed by quickly. "Neos are coming!"

Merry turned around just as the Neos came snarling around the corner. With fear and adrenaline surging through his body, he dashed down the stairs as fast as he could. Panicking, he heard the door he was just at fly off its hinges and crash down the stairs.

He caught sight of Legolas, Frodo and Gandalf roaming the second floor looking for Pippin. "We have to get out of here! Neos upstairs!"

At his yell, they started to run for the nearest doorway but a classroom door exploded in front of them and they were suddenly looking at a dozen ferocious Neos and their claws. A couple of Orcs followed them and their eyes widened at the sight of Gandalf, Frodo and Legolas.

"An Elf?" one said in astonishment. "With a wizard and... a halfling?"

The beings in question were too shocked and scared at the number of Neos at such a close range to do anything. They stood there, trying to move their legs but too frightened to move.

"Get them!" screamed the other Orc. The Neos advanced towards them but were prevented by the magic of Gandalf. Flames of Anor stung their bodies as the wizard and his companions ran away.

On the floor below, Aragorn and Gimli heard the noises above. They both tensed up when a clatter was heard just down the hall. The door from the stairwell flew open with Merry running out of it.

"Merry!" Gimli said in surprise at the hobbit's scared look. "What--?"

"Neos! Upstairs!" he panted. "I think Gandalf, Pippin, Frodo and Legolas are still up there, trapped!"

"Oh, shit." He was halfway to the stairs before Aragorn took a firm hold on his collar and pulled him back.

"Don't be so hasty!"

It was a good thing that Aragorn stopped Gimli from going up the stairs because, at that moment, a fleet of Neos had come crashing down the stairwell. A single Orc kept them at bay as he, too, stood shocked at the appearance of long-dead foes.

"Uklar was right," he said, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "The Fellowship lives to this day."

On his command, the Neos attacked them, claws and teeth bared. Aragorn defeated several at once with a swift slice of his loyal sword, Anduril. Gimli swung his mighty axe around and many of the Neos were slammed heavily against the walls. Merry surprised them all with his skill with his scythe. Each time he twirled his staff and brought down his blade with a streak of silver, Neos would fall to the ground, dead and in pieces.

Finally, Gimli buried his axe into the back of the last living Neo in their midst. The Orc drew his crude sword in a rage.

"You will never defeat the Darkness! The Master of Shadows will soon rule over all!" He started to savagely attack Aragorn with his sword raised high. But Merry put his power into the scythe and sliced at the Orc as hard as he could.

The scythe cut through the Orc's body like a hot knife through butter. The torso fell towards Aragorn, slowly detaching itself from its lower half. He moved aside just as the split body hit the floor, sending black blood around the hallway. A look of utmost surprise stuck of the Orc's face. It's stomach fell out smoothly with a soft flump.

"Whoa," said Aragorn, after a slight pause. He quickly wiped blood and sweat from his brow. "That was a good swipe, man."

Shaking, Merry silently nodded his thanks.

A rumbling was suddenly heard on the floor just above them. Deep cracks appeared on the ceiling and dust started to fall onto their heads.

"The cracks," said Gimli, "they're coming from the Upper Gym."

"Let's go," said Aragorn. He ran, careful not to slip on the blood that covered the floor. Gimli followed him closely. Merry stayed behind a moment to fully comprehend what he had heard within the rumbling.

"Pippin," he muttered softly.

--- ---


	17. Back to School Pt 2

Moments before, Pippin had passed Merry two floors above on his skateboard. After Merry had dashed downstairs, Pippin continued to glide down the smooth hallways, around the debris littered around the floor and keeping a whole pack of Neos on his trail.

He made a quick turn into a room to his right and slammed the door behind him. The ceiling above started to crack and pieces began to fall down. He ran back fast enough to avoid the crumbling ceiling. Stumbling over the pieces of ceiling and wall that had fallen to the floor, he managed to find the light switch and filled the room with fluorescent light.

The room was previously the main science lab, which had a row of computers lining the walls. Now half the light fixtures were barely hanging from the ceiling but some of the computers were on and displayed odd-looking charts. Upon closer inspection, Pippin realized what the charts were showing with fear coursing through his veins.

"Blood pressure... pulse ox... vital stats...? Are they growing...?" He looked fearfully at the large container next to the computer that reached the ceiling and was definitely not in the school before.

Looking around the room, he realized that there were three of the giant containers around the lab. As he inched closer to a container, he could see that a thin sac lined with throbbing veins covered the container from the ceiling to the floor. Thick, pulsing veins and arteries connected all three containers and crept along the floor and ceiling. An eerie, mutilated light emanated from within the pods. Pippin could just make out a monstrous form within.

Purely out of curiosity, he went up to the nearest one and touched the sac ever so gently and slowly. Even though his fingers touched warmth, he could feel a fierce wave of barely contained power; a power so raw and distorted that it sent shivers through his body.

The next few events happened so fast that Pippin barely knew what had happened.

The pod writhed violently for a split second, rippling the sac under Pippin's fingertips. The whole pod suddenly exploded, sending shards of glass and bits of biological substances around the room. A wave of plasma burst from the body, leaving only the monster that dwelled within.

A hideous beast, seven feet tall and nothing but muscle stared down at him. It looked like it had been an Uruk-Hai sometime in the past but it had only a very small hint of its past. Its shoulders and chest were genetically engineered to be larger than they should be, giving it an imposing stature. Its lower half was also engineered to be stronger than it was in the past but not as extreme as the top half. Its index and middle fingers had melded together and, like its other fingers, turned into a large, menacing claw. Its head had grown wilder and uglier. The teeth, which had already been sharp enough, were longer, sharper and much more demonic.

Pippin had barely a split second to see it standing still before it jumped out of the container, ready to kill him. He tried to get out of the lab but, with a thunderous step from the Hunter, the doorway was blocked by fallen debris.

"Oh, shit, oh, shit, oh, shit," he moaned, panicking. He whirled around in time to see the other two containers explode and release the monster they had inside. "Ohh, shit."

The floor shook violently with every step from the three Hunters. They advanced upon Pippin slowly because of their size. He could see that, although they moved slowly, they were still very powerful.

One of the Hunters brought down a mighty foot and the floor suddenly crackled and deep cracks appeared all around it. Everybody looked at the cracks on the floor with apprehension. The crackling stopped. The Hunter nearest Pippin raised his foot to once again advance on him.

With a split-second reaction, Pippin scrambled to the top of the giant pile of debris just as the Hunter heavily stepped forward and caused the floor to give way to the floor below.

"AAAAHHH!" screamed Pippin as his pile of rubble fell through the floor. He landed heavily on the lower floor on top of most of the fallen, broken floor. Coughing and covered with dust, he looked above him and saw a huge, gaping hole in the ceiling of the gym.

Before he could react, a piece of the destroyed ceiling fell and buried him in the rubble.

The remaining unblocked entrance to the gym flew open and Merry entered the gym out of breath.

"Pippin? Pippin!"

He barely took two steps forward when another piece of the ceiling fell right behind him, blocking his way out.

"Pippin? Where are you, buddy?" His voice echoed around the gym. "Come on, Pippin, don't do this to me! Where are you, Pip?"

A pile of trash near the top shifted slightly. Something was trying to get out from under the debris. Merry's instincts kicked in and he cautiously gripped his scythe.

"Merry... Help..." Pippin's thin arm protruded from the pile and waved at him.

"Pippin!" he cried. He scrambled up the pile as fast as he could and helped Pippin out of the mound. "Are you okay?"

"I've been better," he replied, coughing. He was covered with bruises and lots of cuts and scrapes along with a thick layer of dust. A particularly large gash seared his left shoulder. He could feel warm blood trickling down his arm.

"Come on," said Merry, offering an arm to support him. "Let's get out of here." He started to go down, expecting Pippin to follow, but he never came. Instead, he looked very interested in a giant crest that had the school's logo on it.

"Merry," he said slowly, "do you see what I'm seeing?" His eyes never left the crest.

Looking closely at the school crest, he realized what one of the symbols was. "A horn."

"Exactly," said Pippin, grinning. He started to climb down the pile with his skateboard in hand. "All we have to do now is get it down and see if it's the sacred Horn of Gondor. That thing's definitely big enough to be it."

"Definitely." He helped Pippin down the pile. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the rubble shift towards the right. "Uh, Pip?"

"Yeah?"

"What made the ceiling fall?"

Pippin stopped walking. He looked at Merry, then to where he was looking with wide eyes.

One of the Hunters survived the fall and had risen out of the wreckage. It eyed the two hobbits with untamed power and let out a bone-chilling roar.

"That's what made the ceiling fall, Merry!"

The Hunter leaped into the air, claws aimed directly at them. Screaming, the Hobbits managed to avoid its claws when they came down with an almighty crash. The noise was heard throughout the school.

Outside the gym, Aragorn and Gimli were trying to gain access to the gym with no success. Gandalf, Legolas and Frodo were fighting for their lives on the stairwell leading to them.

"What the hell was that?" Frodo yelled down the hall to Aragorn and Gimli. "What's in the gym?"

"Merry and Pippin!" Aragorn yelled back.

With one final surge of Light magic, the remaining Neos dropped dead. Frodo ran to help Aragorn and Gimli free his fellow Hobbits while Gandalf and Legolas made sure nothing would take them by surprise.

Inside the gym, Merry had his scythe gripped tightly in his hands again and it was stained with the Hunter's blood. Pippin was reaching for the pistol in his holster when the Hunter stomped on the ground, making the floor shake violently.

The quake made bits of ceiling fall again but this time, the crest on the wall shook as well, making deep crevices in the walls before falling on the Hunter and shattering into thousands of pieces. But, the horn bounced out and rolled across the floor with a clatter.

"Is it...?" Merry asked breathlessly.

"It is," Pippin replied. He bent down and gently picked it up. "The Horn of Gondor."

All of a sudden, the pile of wreckage started to shift around. Low, angry growls were heard in the depths of the debris. Looking at the Horn, they saw that it was glowing with a faint, white light. Even they, especially Pippin, could feel the Light power the Horn radiated. Obviously, it was attracting all beings of magic towards them, both Dark and Light.

"Merry?"

"Y-yeah, Pip?"

"We have to get out of here, Merry!" His eyes darted to all the entrances, desperately hoping that one of them had opened.

"I know that we have to get out of here, Pippin!" He, too, was looking for an escape route. He looking wildly around and noticed the gym stage. "And I think I know how. Come on, Pip!"

Together, they ran towards the stage. Pippin kept the Horn close to him as he tried to jump onto the gym stage. He glanced back with fear as the ground shook beneath him. He tossed the Horn to Merry, who just caught it. With difficulty, he partially got onto the stage but not quickly enough. A Hunter had gotten within inches of him.

"AAH!" Relying on his instincts and reflexes, Pippin whipped out the gun in his holster and aimed it at the Hunter that was about to kill him. The nozzle just touched the Hunter's muscular chest as he pulled the trigger.

It seemed as if the Hunter had exploded from the inside with a golden light. It fell back twitching and with a huge, gaping hole in its chest that could never have been made with an ordinary firearm. Its blood splattered all over him, especially his upper body.

He took aim, shot at the remaining Hunter and used up several rounds. The bullets flew out of the gun and glowed a brilliant golden light. They left a narrow trail of intense light that was visible for barely an instant. They impacted the Hunter in a vivid show of light and sparkling blood.

"Let's go, Pippin!"

He quickly stowed his gun away and scrambled onto the stage. Together, with Merry, they made their way backstage and exited the gym. Merry handed the Horn back to Pippin and held his scythe with both hands.

"Get ready, Pip," he told him in a low voice. "They're coming."

"Who's coming? The Light or Darkness?"

"Both. Let's just hope that our side comes first."

--- ---

About ten minutes earlier, outside the gym...

"It's so quiet in there," said Frodo. He continued to help Aragorn and Gimli try to dismantle the door to the gym. "What do you think has happened in there?"

"I don't know, Frodo," grunted Aragorn. "Just think happy thoughts and hope that they're all right."

They floor kept vibrating under their feet, sending chills and surges of despair through their bodies but they kept their ground. They were no closer to opening the door when an ear-splitting crash echoed through the school from the gym.

"Merry! Pippin!" Frodo banged his fists against the door in a futile attempt to get inside. "Guys! Can you hear me? Guys!"

"Frodo, calm down," said Legolas. He patted his shoulder to try to comfort him. "The little hobbits are not dead. I can hear them inside the gym. I also heard... something. Something that rolled across the floor with a clatter. I... I don't know what it is." His blue eyes were constantly scanning the halls but they showed a faint glimmer of confusion.

"Do you have any idea what it might be?" Gandalf asked hopefully.

"No," said Legolas after a small pause. _I don't want to get our hopes up_, he thought.

At that moment, they all felt a huge surge of power that emanated from within the gym. They were immediately filled with a renewed sense of hope.

"They found the Horn," said Aragorn, barely daring to believe it. "Unbelievable. They actually found the Horn."

"Make haste, Aragorn!" Gandalf called out to him. "They need a way out and a large band of Dark creatures will be coming soon."

"With all due respect, Gandalf, they're here now!" Legolas let his arrow fly from his bow. It whistled through the air and caught two Neos at the same time with a dull thud. "We need to get out of here!"

"Not without the Hobbits!" Gimli swung his axe and a Neo fell to the ground in two pieces. Frodo and Aragorn had abandoned their attempt to open the door and joined the battle. Sting glowed brightly in the dim lighting of the ravaged school but it was nothing compared to the magic Gandalf was using.

In a small pause in battle, Legolas tried to hear what was going on in the gym but two distinct gunshots were heard by the whole Fellowship.

"Are they...?"

"No. I can hear their weapons shifting around," said Legolas. He aimed his bow and launched an arrow that passed within an inch of Frodo's ear before killing the Neo behind him.

"We have to get to the Hobbits!" Anduril flashed in the dim light. Aragorn glanced around and saw a slight lull in the attacks. "We have to do it now!"

"Then follow me!" Legolas broke into a run down the hall, withdrew his knives and slid his bow to his back. Frodo followed him closely with Gimli behind him. Aragorn and Gandalf brought up the rear, taking out any Dark creatures that got too close to them. A large flock of Neos with their Orcish handlers snapped at their heels.

Legolas gracefully rounded the corner and immediately saw Merry and Pippin ahead of him. Pippin looked like he walked through a thresher and had the Horn of Gondor tightly in his hands. Just by looking at the Horn, he could feel the otherworldly power radiating from it. A sense of relief and hope appeared deep within him under the barely controlled panic and fear.

"Merry! Pippin!" cried out Frodo as he came around the corner. "You're all right!"

"Chat later, run now!" yelled Legolas. Quickly taking Merry and Pippin's wrists, he led them straight towards the back door. Through the window, he could just see the outline of the treetops of the forest against the starts in the night sky.

Legolas, the three Hobbits and Gimli almost flew out of the school and began to run. Merry had a sudden idea and pulled Legolas towards the forest.

"Let's hide in the woods," said Merry breathlessly.

"Are you crazy, Merry?" Pippin had a horrified look on his face. A single look on Legolas' face told him that he shared his anxiety about the forest. The Hobbits' encounter with the girl's mutilated body was still in both of their minds.

"The woods have more places to hide," retorted Merry.

Almost reluctantly, they followed Merry into the forest. Aragorn told Gandalf to go ahead of him as he exited the school.

"Go," he said tersely. "I'll catch up." He fumbled with something in his side pack.

"Aragorn, you must come with us."

"Gandalf, please, go!"

The wizard saw an intense determination in the young Man's eyes that he had never seen in millennia. Gravely, he nodded and proceeded to run to follow the others.

Aragorn finally managed to get what he wanted out of his pack and turned to face the school. Dozens of Neos were crowded at the doors and he knew that there wasn't a lot of time for him to react. The doors were already creaking under the pressure of the Neos.

"Now or never," he told himself. With a flick of his thumb, he took off the pin of a small, hand-held bomb in his hand. Knowing he had mere seconds, he flung the bomb into a high arc and ran as fast as he could away from the school.

The explosive barely touched the doorframe of the school when the doors flew open, pouring Neos out of the building. The bomb immediately detonated on impact in a fiery ball of blaze, incinerating everything in its blast radius. The smell of burnt flesh filled Aragorn's nostrils until he came into the track field.

It was then that he turned for one last look at the school when he realized how school could be so trivial in the game of life. Instead of being a place he went to for knowledge and wisdom, he now thought that this thing he called school was just a building that now had a corner of its foundation destroyed. He found this feeling quite liberating.

A whistle from the woods brought him out of his thoughts. Distant growls and screeches clarified his mind. Closer movements on the grounds sent adrenaline through his body. Immediately, he found his feet and dashed into the dark forest.

The ever-present moonlight was the only source of light in the forest and was their only guide around the trees. More than once, they thought they heard whispers that came from no one. Merry and Pippin recognized at once what it meant.

"Merry?" Pippin asked breathlessly. He wore a faint grin on his face.

"Yes, Pippin?" He, too, was smiling.

"The trees are talking to each other, Merry."

"I know, Pip. That's the point."


	18. It's Still a Tree

The Fellowship ran as fast as they could through the forest for their lives. They could hear the bushes behind them rustle and emit distinct screeches and roars. All most of the Fellowship could think about was running away and staying alive. Merry, however, was concerned with the treetops.

"Help! Help!"

Merry and Legolas skidded to a stop and saw that Pippin had run himself right into a thick bush. In his panic, he dropped the Horn of Gondor. Legolas dashed forward to protect him and try to get him out of the bush.

Merry had dove down, narrowly avoiding an Orc blade, and took hold of the Horn. He got back up to stare into the empty eyes of a Neo. Time seemed to freeze as he looked into the eyes of the soulless demon.

"Merry, run!" Aragorn's voice rang through the air. He called out to the rest of his group. "Keep running! If you stop, they'll get you!"

The trees flashed by as they all sprinted through the forest. Legolas was helping Pippin run since the Hobbit was more injured than the rest. He started to feel weak from the blood loss.

"Legolas... I can't go on... Too weak..."

"No!" he said firmly. "You are not giving up now, Pippin." His eyes landed on a tall oak tree and took him to it. "Go, climb. You'll be safe up there."

Pippin weakly climbed up the ancient tree as best as he could. Below him, he could hear sounds of combat. The only way he could tell the different parties apart was the glinting of the weapons. His friends' weapons winked in the silver moonlight and Frodo's Sting glowed a shimmering blue that was incredibly vivid against the dark background. He could see another small body near Frodo himself. He watched as a knot of Neos, on command by their handler, advanced menacingly.

"Merry! Frodo!" he yelled out to them. He wildly looked around and saw that all of his friends were in danger. Aragorn, Gandalf and Gimli were trying desperately to fight the Neos and Orcs to get to Frodo and Merry. Legolas below him was shooting several arrows at once and all hit their targets. Even in his tree, he could faintly hear him cursing distinctly in Elvish.

"Help, somebody! Anybody! Help!"

"Hrrrm?"

A low, deep voice came from the tree he was in. He felt the bark under him shift without a wind in the air. He looked beside him and discovered that he was sitting next to a face in the tree.

"What's this? Fighting? In my forest?"

The battle stopped immediately and all eyes turned to the trees themselves. Legolas, who was fighting at the foot of the tree, froze. He looked up at the branches just as one of the main branches flew down. He watched it, too amazed to move, as the branch swung right next to him and sent the Neos and Orcs flying.

The Dark creatures scattered and started to run towards the edge of the forest. Unfortunately for them, the tree literally uprooted itself and chased them for a while, stomping on several of them in the process. It seemed almost oblivious to the fact that a Hobbit was next to its face.

"Hrrmmff," snorted the tree. "For five thousand years I have not seen the likes of such damned creatures." The tree talked very slowly and thoughtfully. Behind him, by the grove of trees, the Fellowship looked at the tree with awe. "Nor have I seen such brave things in my midst."

When it turned around to address the Fellowship, it noticed a small, bleeding body next to its face. "Oh-ho? What do I have here in my branches?"

"A Hobbit," replied Pippin. He could feel the numbness of his left arm. "A Hobbit originally from the Shire."

A sound of interest was heard. "A Hobbit? Ah, yes, the halflings that came from the lands of the Old Forest, yes, I remember. There were two of them."

Merry stepped into view and gave the Horn to Aragorn. In a clear, loud voice, he called out to the tree. "It's us, Treebeard. Don't you remember us traveling to Saruman's?"

"Yes, yes I do," rumbled the Ent. "It is quite hard to forget a gathering of the Ents and their rage."

Just then, Pippin finally lost consciousness and slipped off the branches. The rest of the Fellowship dashed out to catch him but, luckily, Treebeard caught him and set him safely on the ground. He looked at the Fellowship, one by one, with mild surprise.

"There are more of you now," he remarked. "Much more than before." He paused for a moment. Gandalf and Aragorn took the opportunity to mix some herbs to save Pippin. Treebeard watched them for a minute before asking, "Who are you?"

They all exchanged glances and Merry spoke up again. His and Frodo's eyes kept darting to Pippin's body through the gaps between Aragorn and Gandalf.

"Well, you already know me, Pip and Gandalf..."

"Hrmm... yes, yes, the good wizard."

He waved his hand to his fellow Hobbit, "This is my cousin, Frodo..." His hand pointed to him, "that is Gimli, a Dwarf..." He then presented the others. "This is the Elf-prince, Legolas and Aragorn of Gondor is right by your fe-- uh, roots. Master Sam, another Hobbit, is at our home, keeping watch over something."

Slowly and with groans of his bark and branches, he bent down to inspect Aragorn, Gandalf and, finally, Pippin.

"A man and a wizard both try to the extent of their abilities to save the life of a mere halfling?" Treebeard smiled with warmth. "How touching."

"With all due respect, Master Ent," said Aragorn, "he is not a mere halfling. He is a dear friend to us and a valued member of our Fellowship."

"No offense meant, Lord Aragorn." He picked some moss off from the top of his trunk. "I think it is truly admirable that the halflings have such friends like this Fellowship.

"Here," Treebeard said as he lowered the moss to Aragorn. He then reached deep into his bushy beard and withdrew several small berries. "Mix these with the moss in some water. If he drinks this, his wound will heal faster and he'll be as good as new. It's an old Entish potion that the Elves taught us."

Gandalf and Aragorn did as he said and the bleeding was visibly less than before. They could even see some clotting in his wound.

"Let's just hope he doesn't get gangrene and need an amputation," muttered Aragorn.

"I'm sure he wouldn't like that," said Gandalf. As Aragorn dressed Pippin's wound with Treebeard still looking on, he called to the others. "He's going to be okay!"

Frodo and Merry, who were both very anxious and holding onto each other for support, let out a large sigh of relief and went to them to check on Pippin. Gimli, who had been watching the Ent very nervously, was being coaxed by Legolas to go closer to the tree-shepherd.

"Come on," begged Legolas. "He's a tree. Yes, he walks and talks, but he's still a tree. That means he's peaceful and won't get angry with you provided you don't raise that axe of yours."

"I saw him in action just now, my Elvish friend, and I'm well aware of this particular tree's abilities," said Gimli. He was being quite careful to keep his axe down.

"A mountain can easily kill you with an avalanche," argued Legolas, "and yet you Dwarves live in them."

"Mountains don't walk; nor do they have conversations with us. This tree does."

Legolas opened his mouth to retort but found nothing to say to that. Instead, he said, "Good point."

"Ah, so I have an Elf of the Noldorin in my forest," Treebeard said with interest. "We Ents owe you our gratitude."

"Oh, um, actually," began Legolas, "I'm not of the Noldorin." He seemed astounded that one as ancient as Treebeard would mistake him for a Noldorin.

"Hrrm?" Treebeard's grassy eyebrows went up with surprise. "You are not? Hrm, hrm. I apologize. I must have mistaken you for another."

"Perhaps," said the Elf, reverting back to his old self for a few moments, "but I am Prince Legolas of Greenwood the Great. My father was King Thranduil. During the War of the Ring, our woodland is called Mirkwood. You've heard of it, possibly?"

"Yes, yes, I remember properly now. I have heard of you before the War of the Ring. If my memory serves me right, you had longer hair then."

Merry chuckled and looked straight up to Treebeard's face. "He had MUCH longer hair back then, Treebeard. All of us look fairly different now, don't we?"

"Hrrm, of course, of course," he said. He settled into a more comfortable position that caused a lot of creaking and rustling of his branches and leaves. "Time makes us all change, no matter who or what we are."

"It does," agreed Gandalf. Next to him, Aragorn took off his cloak and covered Pippin with it like a blanket. "But when fate interferes with time, it does very strange things."

At the confused but piqued look of the Ent's bark face, he launched into the story of their past starting with the end of the War of the Ring to him. The younger members of the Fellowship listened intently to him with Treebeard because it was about the past after they had all died.

"After the One Ring was destroyed, Sauron, of course, was easily defeated," Gandalf began heavily. "The forces of Middle-Earth rejoiced about the passing of the Dark Lord but I was deeply worried throughout the initial celebrations. I had quickly noticed that Aragorn was not among the army of Men nor was he with the Elves. I had asked around the whole force if they had seen him but no one had.

"A search party was formed at once. They searched high and low for him but, once again, he was not found. Someone brought up the theory that he might have been with the Elf-prince Legolas and his friend, Gimli the Dwarf. So, they searched again, looking for them in hope that they would be found.

"Once more, they were missing. They could not be found. Eventually, the truth dawned in everybody's mind, though we didn't want to believe it: they were dead.

"I swiftly ordered a search for their bodies and for the young hobbits, Meriadoc and Peregrin. I had hoped against hope that they would be found.

"What a fool I was," he said bitterly. "How could I have expected to find their bodies intact? How could I have thought that I would have seen the laughing, happy faces of the hobbits again after such a savage war?"

"No, Gandalf," Treebeard said soothingly, "it would have been foolish of you not to hope, not to wish to see your friends again. It is wise to believe that friendship and love outlasts the carnage of war."

"Tell that to Arwen," Aragorn said quietly.

"I apologize if I open old wounds," said Treebeard, "but, who is this Arwen?"

"Patience, my good Ent," Gandalf said gently, "I will explain in due time.

"I had sent out scouts at the break of dawn on that day. They never returned until after sundown. Throughout the day, I prayed to the Valar that my dear comrades were well, that I had drawn the world of Middle-Earth into despair and grief of the passing of the King of Men and his Fellowship in needless worry.

"But, the grief was truth. The scouts who came back first brought with them the Sword of Kings, a splintered Elvish bow and a broken axe made with the skill and fashion of the Dwarves. They handed the weapons to me and the leaders of Men and Elves in Lorien cloaks soaked in blood. I wept for our loss.

"I still had a small hope that the hobbits would return. Alas, a mere hour after we had received the sorrowful package, the second group of scouts returned with two smaller cloaks of Lorien, along with daggers that was given by the Lady Galadriel. I wept once more. I lost hope.

"Frodo and Sam still stood in my mind until the scouts from Mount Doom came back. They used their tracking skills and found how they had jumped over the edge into the fire. Once again, a deep despair flooded my mind and soul.

"I took it upon myself to inform the realms of Middle-Earth of its losses. I went with Elrohir and Elladan to the forest of Mirkwood and told King Thranduil of the death of his son. The funeral for Legolas lasted over a year although the pain never fully disappeared in the Mirkwood Elves.

"I went to the Dwarves alone. I told Gloin the sad news myself. In a state of rage and denial, he cast me out of his realm. During my remaining time in Middle-Earth, I never went back.

"When I arrived at Rivendell, the Lady Arwen was already distraught. Elladan and Elrohir had tried to tell her of Aragorn's death, but she had refused to believe them. Her love for him was so deep that she wanted to hold onto every last memory of him without letting go. She knew that the love was mutual.

"I remember all too well how her heart was shattered when I told her it was true. She ran from my sight full of sad tears. I tried to comfort her whenever I saw her, but that was a rare occurrence in itself. I left the citadel of Rivendell a few weeks afterward with a heavy heart.

"I journeyed to the Shire to inform the town of Hobbiton about their loss of four admirable Hobbits. They took the news very hard, indeed. They had no idea that four Hobbits had left the Shire for an adventure to protect the world, including their homes. A solemn celebration was held at Bag-End, as a lasting memorial of Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin. The whole Shire knew of the loss and a lot of them attended the memorial.

"Of course, after a few rounds of the Hobbit brew, some of the older Hobbits' tongues grew loose and their more traditional thoughts came out. It created a bit of a riot, if I may say so myself."

Frodo quickly explained to the rest of the Company, to refresh their minds, about the anti-adventure nature of most Hobbits.

"After my visit to Hobbiton," continued Gandalf, "I wandered the Wild once again. Soon, I felt that Middle-Earth no longer needed me. However, before I left it, I fully understood what an impact the loss of the Fellowship had on the world.

"It was as if a bright star in the sky had dimmed. The corners of Middle- Earth had almost united in an international feeling of grief. But, the Elves still continued to leave the shores, despite the loss of Legolas. With the death of Gimli, the Dwarves virtually disappeared because of Gloin's anger. Men were forced to continue their lives however they could without their King. Eventually, a new king was elected and a Golden Age of Men was ushered in, although it would have been much more sweeter if it was led by Aragorn.

"The Hobbits continued their way of isolated life, not caring about the rest of the world and its ways. Every year, however, they paused to remember the four who had given their lives for them. But they were the least affected.

"The one who was most affected Arwen. Her love was met with an unprecedented death. She had nothing to live for. She couldn't live with the Elves, after knowing her true love and she couldn't live as a mortal and try to love another. So, she took her own life."

Aragorn's eyes widened with shock of this news. He had never known this about Arwen but he knew that he never asked because he didn't really want to know.

"I'm sorry, Aragorn," murmured Frodo.

"It's in the ancient past," sighed Aragorn.

"Hrm, hrm," said Treebeard. "Very interesting, Gandalf. But, tell me, why are you here now, after five thousand years and after many, many Ages?"

With the help of the boys, he told the Ent everything that had happened since that carefree, innocent first day of school at S. J. Carnil.

"I see," Treebeard said grimly. "The events that happened in the past are being reflected in the present. That is most unfortunate, indeed, hrm."

"So you'll help us?" Merry asked hopefully.

"Hrrmmmmm," rumbled Treebeard, deep in thought about the predicament. On the one side, he would be helping his friends from the past push back the forces of Darkness. On the other side, the Darkness hadn't done anything to the Ents or the forest. He pondered for what he thought was a moment.

"I've made a decision," he announced.

"How long has it been?" Aragorn muttered to Legolas. "An hour?"

"An hour and a half, more like," he replied. He looked around and saw that the Hobbits and Gimli were already sleeping.

"What is your decision, Treebeard?" Gandalf asked him.

"I have decided that I need to call an Entmoot. It is something that has not happened for a very, very long time." With that, he headed deeper into the forest.

"What's an Entmoot?" wondered Aragorn.

As the night wore on, Gandalf and Legolas told him about the tree- shepherds. Eventually, they all lay down on the grass and slept under the never-changing stars.


	19. Eat the Grass and Tuna Fish

As usual, Legolas was the first to rise from sleep. For a moment, with the crisp morning air in his nose, the morning singing of the birds in his ears and the sight of so many trees in his sight, he thought that he was still in Middle-Earth with the Fellowship. After the wind ruffled his short hair and waved his long jacket in the wind, his thoughts came back to the present.

"Too bad," he sighed. "The past is so much easier to deal with, compared to the present."

As he watched the sky turn from steel gray to a pale pink-gold, the bundle of cloth nearby began to stir. It tried to get untangled but failed spectacularly. Legolas watched with amusement from the tree where he sat.

"Who the hell did this to me?" Pippin asked in frustration. He continued to struggle with the cloak that was wrapped tightly around him.

"It was Aragorn," laughed Legolas. He went over and untangled the Hobbit from the tied-up, rumpled cloak. "Never let him wrap anything with a cloak, especially if it's living."

"Yeah," agreed Pippin. He scrambled away from the cloak and stood next to Legolas, never taking his eyes off of the cloak. "It might try to eat whatever it's wrapped around."

"Does it hurt?"

"Does what hurt?"

"This." He poked Pippin's arm wound.

"Aaah! Yes! But not as much as yesterday, thank god." He pulled up his bloodstained sleeve to inspect the large wound underneath. "It looks a hell of a lot better, too."

"You can thank Treebeard for that," Legolas said jovially. He deliberately patted the injured arm to provoke him.

"I will... after I make you eat the grass!" Returning to his teenage state of mind, he tackled Legolas to the ground and tried to force him to stay there.

For a few moments, all they were at that time were a couple of teenage boys playing around in a forest. At the end, Legolas stopped Pippin's attacks with a simple outstretched hand on his forehead. Pippin's fists came short of his body by several inches.

A slow, low rumbling and creaking was heard from deep within the forest and caught their attention.

"What was that?" Legolas asked. His hand released Pippin when they both stopped and looked in the direction of the noise. He immediately heightened his senses, especially his Elvish eyesight and hearing, to gather any clue about the source of the noise.

"Oh, are you talking about that strange rumbling noise? It's the Ents," Pippin said knowledgeably. "That's Old Entish, if I'm not mistaken. I'd have thought that you elves would've remembered what the Ents sounded like, Legolas."

"It's been nearly seven thousand years since I've last heard a tree talk," he said plainly. "Unless, of course, you count last night."

Without warning, Pippin took Legolas' hand and started to go deeper into the forest, towards the Entmoot. But since Pippin was a Hobbit, he took a route that was full of branches and shrubbery that he could avoid easily but Legolas, unfortunately, had a harder time. Because of this, they came to the Entmoot a little more than dirty and scratched up.

"I am never taking after your lead ever again," said Legolas as he brushed a leaf from his hair. "You only take the road that's meant for Hobbits like you."

"No, I only take that road whenever I'm leading you."

"Peace," rumbled Treebeard as Legolas made a distinct growling noise at Pippin. "It is not ideal for allied sides to fight amongst one another." Despite his advice, Legolas still gave his Hobbit friend a friendly push. "Well, I suppose I must not expect the same behavior as I did before."

"Have you made a decision about our war?" Legolas asked the Entmoot. "Have you at least talked about our situation?"

A great rumbling and creaking came from the Entmoot. Legolas looked at Pippin nervously as the creaking continued for several minutes. Pippin was much more calm than him and just stood beside him, waiting. Finally, the noise stopped.

"Our answer is no."

"No?" he exclaimed. "What do you mean, 'no'?"

"No, we have not discussed that matter yet," Treebeard said slowly. "You must have patience, Master Elf, like the halfling has." The low rumbling started again.

Once again, Legolas looked at Pippin who looked very smug and pleased about himself.

"Yeah, Legolas. Show more patience like me."

"Pip," sighed Legolas as he put his hand on his shoulder, "we all know that you have the patience of a goldfish."

For the next few hours, the two of them burned away the hours by watching the sun fully rise and by climbing the trees while they waited for the rest of the Fellowship to wake up.

While Legolas and Pippin were at the Entmoot, the rest of the Fellowship began to rise. Aragorn woke up first after having the morning dew splash onto his face from the leaves above. The Horn of Gondor was still safely by his side.

He looked around drowsily and realized that two of them were missing. Panicking slightly, he used his tracking skills to find out what had happened to them.

"They were standing here," he muttered as he looked around and secured the Horn by his side, "but they soon ran off into the woods." He followed their tracks through the thick bushes and trees with some difficulty. "The Hobbit was in front, with Legolas close behind. But there are no other tracks to follow them..."

Confused and concerned, he ran straight through the clearing ahead and a loud rumbling met his ears. Out of instinct, he clapped his hands over his ears. When he put them down, he heard Legolas' and Pippin's voices above him.

"No, Legolas, not that one. It's not ripe yet."

"No? How about this one?" A rustle in the branches overhead was heard. "This one was practically going to fall off. Looks red enough, too."

Aragorn looked straight up and saw his friends sitting in the tree with their legs dangling and choosing which apples they should eat. It looked as if Pippin was directing Legolas to the apples that he thought were best.

"Yeah, that one looks really good," said Pippin.

"Let's give this to Aragorn, shall we?" He put out his hand and dropped the apple. Aragorn caught it in time to see Pippin's horrified look and taunted him with a satisfying crunch of the apple. Because Pippin was on the verge of sinking into depression, he picked another beautifully ripe apple and gave it to him.

"How long has the Entmoot been going on?" Aragorn asked through his apple.

Glancing at his watch, Legolas replied, "They're on their eighth hour. How long an Entmoot is, I don't really know." He started to eat his own apple and watched the Ents sway in rhythm to the wind and their own sounds.

When Aragorn finished eating, he told the others that he was going off to get a drink from a nearby stream.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you," Pippin called down.

"And why is that?"

"Because that stream is full of the Ent draught they use to make the trees grow. That's why we have these beautiful, succulent apples in the middle of spring."

"So why shouldn't I drink from it?"

Pippin stole a glance at Legolas, who just shrugged in response.

"Because," Pippin began slowly, "even though it makes you taller, it'll give you a horrible stomachache. Yeah, that's it."

"That and Treebeard said not to drink from it," added Legolas. He directed him to a normal stream to drink from. He looked after the Horn while he was gone.

Over time, the rest of the Fellowship woke up and all of them spent the day trying to relax after a very long night.

--- ---

"Hobbitses and their friends didn't come back last night," hissed Gollum. "Maybe Master has captured them, precious. Perhaps we will have some help when helping Master now. We all knows that Master could use some extra help. Right, Smeagol?"

"Go away," sobbed Smeagol. "We hurts too much to listen."

"Oh, what are you complaining about now, you little stinker?" Sam asked roughly. After spending a night alone with the double-faced Smeagol, he was reaching the end of his temper.

"This nasty rope hurts us," whimpered Smeagol. He struggled to loosen himself a little bit. "And we are hungry. We wants something to eat."

"Once Master finds us, the fat Hobbit will suffer," growled Gollum. "He keeps us tethered like an animal, starves us with scrap food and abuses us through the night with his nasty rope. Yes, precious. He will be the first to suffer with Master's help."

Smeagol had no reply except for a constant whimpering. Gollum became sedated on the surface and had let Smeagol take full control of their consciousness.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this again," muttered Sam. He went to the fridge and made himself some breakfast. He was so preoccupied about his friends that he managed to tune out Smeagol's ramblings to himself.

"Smeagol doesn't want to hurts anyone anymore," he said nervously in a low voice. "We learned what happens when we tries to hurts others; we get hurts ourselves, precious. That's what happened in Middle-Earth. We's don't want to feel burnings again, precious."

"The pain we felt was because of the stupid Hobbitses," snarled Gollum. Evidently, he decided that he needed to talk. "They should feel what we felt. They should have to feel the emptiness of time. They should feel the pain of being enslaved with a nasty rope and being starved to death. They should feel how cold it is with no friends. Gollum, gollum."

"Master is our friend. Master feeds us and gives us shelter."

"Master only does that because he needs us! He needs us to help him carry out Master's plans and keep his monsters alive and well. He needs us to help him grow strong. That's all he needs for, precious. He is not our friend."

"Don't say that!" Smeagol screeched, trying not to listen to the voice inside his head. "Master is our friend, Master is our friend!"

"He beats us, precious! Kicks us, yells at us, hurts us! Our every move in that slimy, wretched hole is a command to us! Abuse, torture and slavery we are. He is not our friend!"

"He can be our friend. Perhaps if..." Smeagol trailed off hopefully.

"If what?" Gollum asked curiously.

"If we give him the nasty Hobbitses and their friends," he said gleefully, careful not to let Sam hear.

"Yes! Then we can strangle their little Hobbit necks, starve them and hit them like they did to us in the past!" Gollum savored that thought as if it was his last. But, something caught his attention. "Do you smell that, precious?"

His nose sniffed the air wildly. "Smeagol does. It smells like... fishies."

Sam was just finishing his breakfast with some tuna fish on toast, among other things. He had sat down at the opposite end of the table that was furthest from Smeagol. Through Smeagol and Gollum's eyes, he was taunting them with the succulent fish.

"See how he provokes us with his fish, precious?" Gollum said. "He tortures us while he gets to eat the tasty fishies. He will definitely be the first to suffer." He continued on, muttering ominously to himself.

Sam had already got up and cleared the table. However, before he started on cleaning the dishes, he got something from the counter and put it next to Gollum.

"What's this stuff that the fat hobbit has given us?" Gollum said aloud. He poke and prodded the food on the dish.

"It's the tuna fish I didn't use," replied Sam. His tone was softer than usual when directed to Gollum. "You must be hungry but that's the only kind of fish we have in here." He went back to washing the dishes.

As Gollum gobbled up the tuna fish from the plate on the floor, he started to rethink his plans.

"This fish isn't that bad," Smeagol told him. "Maybe he doesn't need to suffer first."

"Maybe, precious. Maybe. But he will feel pain from us, precious. Yes. Lots of pain he's caused us tonight and many nights before."

"No! We don't wants to hurts anyone! We won't let you!"

Gollum didn't reply him. He actually left Smeagol's consciousness and stayed quiet inside their mind. Smeagol barely noticed that he finished his fish in peace until he realized how quiet it had become.

"We won't hurts anyone," Smeagol said defiantly. "Not anymore, we won't."

_But Master will_, Gollum silently thought. _Master will hurt them for us._


	20. Damned Squirrel

"I'm so bored!"

"You and me both, my pointy-eared friend. Mind you, I'd never think that an Elf would get bored of being in the raw forests of the world."

Legolas hung from the tree upside-down so that he was face-to-face with Gimli.

"Normally, no, we elves wouldn't get bored. Frankly, we fail to see how anyone could get bored with the beauty of the natural world. However, I am an exception to that Elvish rule." He flipped himself down from the tree with graceful dexterity.

"And why is that? How come you're an exception?"

"Because," he began, "I'm Legolas Greenleaf who's sixteen years old in a world of fast paces and urgency. That kind of shortens my attention span a little, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it does," agreed Gimli, "but we've all thought that you had a short attention span for an Elf from the beginning!"

"Ah! Well, at least it's never been as short as yours, my dwarvish friend. Aragorn and I thought that you were distracted by our absolute beauty; that's why you kept lagging behind," he joked.

"If you truly think that," he sputtered, "you've really got something wrong with you!"

"I'm joking! I'm joking!"

It was the second night of the ongoing Entmoot and some of them were getting restless. Aragorn practiced with Frodo to burn up some energy while Gandalf conversed animatedly with the Hobbits. Legolas and Gimli were hanging around the edge of the clearing by the tall trees.

"Looks like Gandalf picked up the habit of smoking the pipe again," Gimli commented.

"Better to smoke a pipe than smoke a cigarette," Legolas sighed. "I am really, really bored now and I don't feel like sparring." He looked through the forest with his Elven eyes and listened to the wind sighing in synch with the clouds passing over the moon. "You want to take a walk? Stretch out our legs a bit?"

"Yeah, might as well," replied the Dwarf. He followed Legolas across the grove and called out to the others that they were going for a walk.

Inside the forest, it was silent except for the quiet wind in the branches. Thin beams of moonlight shot through the trees and created silver patches on the forest floor in a pattern that only nature could provide. As the clouds passed by overhead, the patches of light faded and danced across the ground, giving the implication that the forest was much more alive and active at night than anyone could have possibly dreamed of.

The whispers from nobody surrounded them as they walked through the trees. They tickled their ears, asking them what they were doing in there. The whispers followed their footsteps wherever they went, bodiless as the wind and just as mysterious.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to go through here?" Gimli asked nervously. "I think I'm hearing voices, you know."

"I hear them too," Legolas said casually. He looked adoringly around him, taking in the splendor of nature during the night. "The trees are talking to each other. They're wondering why two beings with such strange auras surrounding them are wandering so freely in their forest." He chuckled. "I guess they forgot about the Elves."

"Let's hope they didn't," Gimli muttered darkly. "I don't particularly want to end up skewered at the wrong end of a birch branch."

With a grin, Legolas started to call out to the trees in Sindarin. The whispers changed tone after he said a few words. After a few sentences from him, there was total and complete silence. He and Gimli stood still in the midst of the trees, wondering what had happened.

"What the hell did you say to them?" Gimli asked skeptically. "I really don't like this silence."

"All I said was, 'how are the trees of the Old Realm?' I don't think there's any offense to be taken from that," Legolas answered quietly. "I hope."

Something in the distance ahead of them rustled. The moonlight shifted and a bush was seen shaking violently. Both of them looked at the bush and watched it shake for a while before Gimli summoned up the courage to approach the quivering bush. He hesitantly pushed the branches apart to look into the shrub.

"Is anything in there?" called Legolas.

"Yeah," he called back, "it's a squirrel. We got worked up over a little, tiny squirrel."

It glared up at Gimli and dashed out of the bush and through his legs towards Legolas. Upon seeing the Elf, it changed its course and ran deeper into the forest with him following closely. Gimli tore after them as well as he could.

Legolas' platinum hair flashed silver as he ran through the beams of moonlight that were scattered throughout the forest floor. He jumped over small shrubs that the squirrel ran through, over fallen trees that it ran under, and weaved between the trees just to follow the little animal. He could hear Gimli crashing through the underbrush in an attempt to catch up. "Come, Gimli! You've got to run faster!"

"I'd be willing to try to catch up if you'd just tell me why we're running after a bloody squirrel!" he yelled back at him.

In response, Legolas just laughed and continued his chase. After a moment of running, he managed to chase the animal up a tree. He was looking up at the squirrel with his laughing blue eyes when Gimli finally came up next to him out of breath and with several scratches on his face.

"Now," he began, "I must ask you again: why the hell were we just chasing after a little squirrel deeper into the woods where nobody knows where the hell we are?"

Legolas pointed to the squirrel, who was sitting on a branch serenely. "He told me to."

With a very exasperated and angry expression on the Dwarf's face directed at him, the Elf wandered down to a small clearing next to a solid rock cliff. Gimli followed him, grumbling darkly under his breath. Legolas decided to take a small break by the cliff and watch the clouds go by before heading back to the others.

A cloud shifted and they were bathed with the light of the moon. From where Legolas was standing, the forest appeared to have been showered with liquid silver for it to shine as it did.

"It's ithildin!" cried Gimli. He pointed to the rock wall Legolas was leaning on.

"What?" He leapt off the wall and looked at it. Glowing lines were beginning to show. "I don't believe it. It's actually ithildin!"

The lines on the wall appeared in front of them like pure mercury was being painted on the rock by an invisible hand. The lines glowed a piercing white in the darkness around them. The flowing lines stopped moving, showing a picture that occupied the whole rock face.

Inside the perfect rectangle were rippling, curved lines that stretched across the whole picture or to large blobs that shimmered just like the lines. Among the lines were small icons of forests and jagged patterns of mountains. A small circle at the foot of some mountains was labeled with Elvish script. A small, dotted line leading away from the circle and to a tiny "x" in the middle of a field sparkled exceptionally in the moonlight. More Elvish script labeled the path and the "x".

"Legolas, what does it say?"

"Well," he pointed to the lettering by the circle, "this literally says, 'you are here'. The script by the x says, 'herein lies the last guide for the hopeless, the last star to counter a moonless night, the last for the last.'"

"Wow," Gimli said breathlessly. "What does the stuff say near the line?"

"'Good luck on your journey.'"

"Oh, we'll need it." He turned to leave to tell the others of their find but Legolas stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. He looked at the Elf and saw a lingering look of curiosity.

"Hold on. There's something else above it." He pointed to some script that was barely visible even in the sharp contrast. "I think that says,

'Like the leaves that fall from the trees before the snow, time flows evermore, unstoppable and relentless. It changes mountains to fields, ponds to lakes, seeds to giant trees. Relentless as it may be, it will never change the beacon of light that pierces the darkness. Find the road, friend, and you will find what you seek though time has masked the path.'

"I see it now!" he exclaimed. "It's a map of the Old World. The path leads to something to guide the hopeless, according to this text." He paused in reflection. "'The last star to counter a moonless night,'" he muttered. "The Light of Earendil, do you think?"

"That's what it sounds like it's talking about. Shall we go and ask the squirrel for directions on how to get back now?"

Legolas backed away from the wall, taking the map into his memory and etching it into his mind. Before he turned away, he was quick to notice something about the map but thought no more about it as they tore through the forest after the squirrel again.

"Whoa, what the hell were you guys doing in there?" Merry eyed their scratches and the leaves and buds caught in their clothes and hair.

"Nothing explicit, I can assure you," Legolas said as he shook out the leaves from his hair. Aragorn's disbelieving expression caught his eye. "I swear! We were chasing a squirrel!"

"You guys were chasing a squirrel?" Frodo asked incredulously.

"Fine, I was chasing a squirrel and Gimli was just following me. But it was a very good idea for me to follow it."

"Why? Did he lead you to his nuts?" Pippin interjected.

Before anything could stop them, they all let out a nice, long laugh that was contained for far too long. It seemed surreal yet relieving to laugh as a group especially at a time like that.

"You know what?" Legolas said. "If you're going to mock me like that, I'm not going to tell you what we found in there."

"That's all right," Merry said, laughter lingering in his eyes, "we'll just ask Gimli. What's in there, Gimli?"

Legolas scowled. Sensing danger, Aragorn took him aside, further from Merry. Clearly, he was offended by Merry's remark. Gimli had some fun by telling the others about their little adventure while Aragorn talk to the Elf privately.

"Calm down, mellon nin," he said in a calming tone. "You'll have to forgive him; the Hobbits were desperate to have a relaxing time today."

"They must've been really desperate if they're taking a few hits at me," he growled. He sensed Aragorn's look beside him. "I'm calming down. I'm calming down."

In the middle of the clearing, the Hobbits were now begging Gimli to tell them what they had found. Gandalf sat near them, staff and sword beside him, and smoking his pipe while listening interestedly.

"Come on, Gimli! Be a good sport and tell us!" Pippin said.

"Will you stop pestering me if I do?" he said impatiently. "You guys will be the reason why I will never have children."

"Of course," Merry said simply.

"Fine! After that confounded squirrel led us into the middle of nowhere, we came face-to-face with something that has been unheard of for Ages. An ithildin map etched on a wall of stone."

"A map?" Gandalf said, now fully interested in what he had found. "What was it for? Something that may help us in our quest?"

"It spoke only in riddles that only one learned in Elvish poetry and literature could solve, I think. But our pointy-eared friend thinks that it is indeed a map showing the location of the elusive hiding place of the Light of Earendil."

"Tell me you have it locked in your mind, Gimli!" he exclaimed anxiously. "Tell me that you know where it is and exactly what the riddles mean."

"Er..." Gimli stalled. All he could remember of the map was that the dotted line that led from the tiny circle was angled upwards to the northwest. "I think it's better if you ask Legolas about the map."

The five of them looked in the direction of where they thought he was standing but saw nothing but trees. All around them were nothing but tall trees glittering in the light of the moon.

"Legolas? Aragorn!" the wizard called out. Silence met his ears with no response on the wind. "Where have those two reckless boys go?"

"If they're reckless, what're you?" Frodo asked Merry and Pippin, who just shrugged.

Pippin looked around the trees again and spotted something winking in the light on a knot of a tree. He quickly got up and picked it up to examine it. "Oh, no."

"Peregrin, what is it?" Gandalf said. "Give it to me."

"It's a key," replied Pippin mildly. He gave it to Gandalf. "It's for Aragorn's car." He picked up the note that he had just noticed was under his foot and also gave it to the wizard, who opened it and read it aloud.

"'Take my car and get back to the warehouse safely,'" he read. "'Legolas is with me and we're taking his bike. Hope to see you again. Signed, Aragorn.' Reckless boys..."

"But," Pippin said, slightly confused, "where did they go if not back to the warehouse?"

"To find the Light of Earendil," Gimli answered gruffly, "without us, so it seems. I suppose they didn't want to put us in risk of danger. Well, too bad, guys! We're still going with you." He held out his hand to Gandalf. "I'm driving. If we leave now, we can still catch up."

Gandalf looked at him reproachfully but smiled. "Dwarves are such stubborn creatures. So stubborn, in fact, that when their dearest friends show the least bit of compassion to them, like trying to keep them out of harm's way, they do whatever they can to join their friends in danger and go against their wishes at the same time."

Gimli sighed and reluctantly lowered his hand.

"Aragorn and Legolas will be fine, don't worry." Gandalf went and picked up his staff and sword. "They can manage for themselves. After all, their bond of friendship has strengthened over time and has become absolutely unbreakable through the misfortunes, pain and memories that they now share with each other. Indeed, they've become so close that they transcend the bonds of brotherhood. They will undoubtedly be able to protect one another."

"Still," grumbled Gimli, "why did they have to go without me?"

Before anyone could reply, an enormous thud trembled the earth. Treebeard looked down upon them right behind the Hobbits. They scrambled away in fear from the giant tree leg when it dropped within inches of them.

"Treebeard!" Gandalf called up to him cheerfully. "What says the Ents about our situation?"

"We have decided," inhaled Treebeard, "that we fail to see how the Ents can be involved hostilely in this new war. We will not join you in this battle."

"What?" Frodo jumped to his feet. "You helped us defeat the Darkness before! How can this be your decision? Why will you not help us fight this new evil?"

Gandalf raised his staff and lightly struck Frodo for his sudden outburst.

"Hrrmmm," rumbled the tree-shepherd. "We will not fight with you in this war because your enemy has done nothing to anger us. But we do remember the War of the Ring and the injustice of Saruman and we thank you for showing his evilness to us."

"So there's no chance of changing your mind about helping us?" Frodo asked sadly.

"Hrm, what's this? Who said anything about the Ents not helping their friends of old?"

Frodo stood there, very confused about the situation. He looked back at his fellow Hobbits, who in turn, looked at Gandalf the wizard.

"Can you not see what Treebeard is saying?" Gandalf asked them with an amused smile. "The Ents refuse to fight but they are more than willing to give us something of aid."


	21. Top Floor

Legolas sat on the hood of the Mercedes while Aragorn searched in his car for the city map that he had but rarely ever used.

"The sky is lightening, Aragorn," he said. "Dawn is coming rapidly." He closely inspected one of his arrows.

"I know, I know." He was going through a stack of paper from the glove compartment as he said so. "Ah! Found it. Stupid thing was clenched between some flyers in there." He discarded everything else and spread the map on the hood of the car, beside Legolas.

The Elf closed his eyes and called up the glistening map in his mind. He opened them and tried the best that he could to match the images up.

"So much has changed," muttered Legolas. "The fields, mountains and forests have changed quite a bit."

"That's what several millennia does to the land," Aragorn said knowledgeably. "It's called evolution."

Legolas looked at him and chuckled softly. He proceeded to match the coinciding landmarks of both the map on the car and the ithildin map.

"The map was located around here," he muttered and used to the arrow to point to the cliffs in the forest. "The river used to flow southwest but it flows northwest now. This valley must have been filled with water until it dried up a a while ago; it's a park now." He adjusted the map and the distance between him and it to find a manageable perspective. With one eye closed, he slowly lowered the arrow on the map. "Right there."

"Perfect," said Aragorn. He retrieved the rest of his weaponry from his car trunk. "But, if you damage my car in any way, Legolas, I may have to hurt you." He gave his close friend a good-natured grin. "You got that?"

Legolas returned a wry smirk and got onto his motorcycle. Aragorn strapped on his weapons and got on behind him.

"I got it," replied Legolas, "just as long as you return the favor." He slid on his helmet and revved up his bike. He turned to look at Aragorn. "You ready?"

Aragorn could clearly see the eagerness to once again ride the motorcycle in his blue eyes and just laughed. "Yes! Just go, damn it!"

With the moon shining so brightly, the BMW seemed to melt into its surroundings. Everything on the streets looked like they were made with liquid silver. The clouds that passed by overhead flickered the dawn and moonlight and threw the beams into sharp relief. It was truly surreal to see such an ethereal light to be poured upon such a demonic environment.

Once again, they parked a few blocks away from their destination in an inconspicuous alley so they wouldn't attract any of the local wildlife. Aragorn examined the map as Legolas made sure that his bike was well hidden.

"Turn left, he says," said Legolas. He hid his helmet behind some trashcans. "And so I did. Where did we end up? On the other side of the city." With a grin on his face, he tightened the straps of his gun holster and quiver.

"You should know by now that I follow directions by sight," said Aragorn as he tossed the map into a nearby garbage, "not by what a fucking map says. Come on. It's just down the street."

They quietly made their way down the city streets while the sun peeked between the tall buildings of downtown. They made little noise running down the sidewalk, leaping over fallen newspaper stands, lampposts and covered dismembered body parts, and between scattered decaying bodies.

In the morning sun, the streets of downtown didn't look any better than it did during the night. The buildings were still ravaged and could now be seen how truly damaged and vandalized they were in the sun. Shattered glass that fell from dozens of floors above in the skyscrapers littered the streets. They passed by a devastated building with shards of glass in front of it and had to pause in disgust at what lay on the glass.

It looked like the woman had been thrown out of the window from one of the higher floors of the skyscraper. Her skull was smashed open, showing that she had landed headfirst. Like all other bodies lying around the street, the body was ripped and torn.

But what made them stop and look was the fact that she was mercilessly ripped apart. One leg was still attached but only by a few threads of sinew. The other leg was fully torn off and was scattered around as nothing but bones and shreds of muscle. Her arms also lay elsewhere away from their owner. One was a few meters away from the body and, like one of the legs, was reduced to nothing but bloodstained bones but was still intact. The other seemed to have been missing. What was most horrifying was the image of the woman's whole jaw that was entirely ripped away from her head.

"Oh, my god," Aragorn moaned after a moment of walking. He pointed to the ground in front of them. The woman's entire arm, which was missing several chunks of flesh and a couple of fingers, was lying in their path.

Trying not to retch himself, Legolas guided him around the severed arm and down the street. Also trying desperately not to look at any more bodies for too long, they finally came to the last intersection before their destination.

"You sure it's just around the corner, Aragorn?"

"Yeah," he said as they turned the corner. "According to you and the map, it's right there…" He pointed to the building that ended that street and they both froze in surprise.

The office building with the giant light sign that said "Strickland and Grayfield" stood silently at the end of the road like a weary, time-worn man waiting for a hero to come and save his homeland. Most of the floors still had electricity and their windows were mostly intact.

"What the hell?" breathed Aragorn. He looked at Legolas, who was also staring at the familiar building. "Are you sure you read the map right?"

"Dead positive," Legolas said seriously. "Let's go. If the map says it's in there, I'm going in; I don't doubt it." He shed his long, dark coat and carefully stashed it out of sight. "I think there was more to our fathers than we had originally thought." He adjusted his ripped, blood-flecked shirt that was originally a t-shirt, wrapped a long piece of dark fabric around his left wrist and waited for Aragorn.

But, all he did was stare back confusedly. "What? Why'd you take off your coat? Aren't you cold?"

Legolas sighed. "Don't you remember when our dads dragged us into the office to 'learn'? No? Okay." He hung his head when he saw the blankness of Aragorn's face. "The security is state-of-the-art in there. They were constantly updating security from the market. I know they said that it was still insufficient but I did research once and found out that this office's security can rival airports and maximum-security prisons combined. I took off my coat because it's easier to move without it and it makes a hell of a lot less noise when I'm in minimal clothing. And no, I'm not cold; I'm kind of chilly."

"Ah," Aragorn said, "I see. Good point there." He took of his own jacket and tightened the straps of his quiver and holsters over his dark-gray t-shirt, which was also ripped and torn with a sleeve missing. The other sleeve was holding on by a few threads so he just tore if off and wrapped it around his right wrist.

Together, with what Legolas could see inside, they devised a plan on how to search for the Light of Earendil in the thirty-floor building. As silently and swiftly as they could, they set towards their fathers' company.

They searched the ground level windows for any missing or cracked panes of glass and found one near the back. Slowly poking their heads around the windowpane, they saw a trio of Neos and an Orc casually mingling near the doorway to the main lobby. Judging the way both the Orc and the Neos were restlessly bored, it was highly unlikely that the boys would have been able to pass by them unnoticed.

Without a single sound escaping the backroom, they managed to kill the whole group. Legolas had taken Aragorn's dagger, silently rushed in and sliced the Orc's throat open, assassin-style. Aragorn was right behind him, Anduril withdrawn, and killed two Neos at the same time with a single stroke through their necks. The final Neo barely uttered a squeak when Legolas buried the dagger into its skull. The whole ordeal took a few seconds.

"This is a good dagger," said Legolas. He twirled it in his fingers before giving it back to Aragorn.

"It is."

They entered a luxurious lobby with bows drawn. The vast hallway was eerily empty. The varnished redwood walls were barely marred with anything but minuscule scratch marks and all but one of the overhead lamps that omitted a soft, golden light were functioning.

"Definitely creepy," muttered Legolas. "Almost nothing's damaged in here and it's empty, too."

Both of them lowered their bows and walked down the deserted lobby with their footsteps echoing in the cavernous room. The large company emblem that sat behind the main floor security desk dully shined at them as they approached.

They had always wondered what the company's symbol had meant, but never quite figured out what it was. Legolas looked at it with a vague sense of unknown familiarity before diving behind the desk in search for something.

"Looking for the electronic key card?" Aragorn asked over the desk. He heard a murmur of assent from somewhere behind it. "Try opening the middle file drawer and snapping open the left side of it."

Legolas opened the battered drawer with a little difficulty but was able to find the hidden compartment on the left face of the drawer. Inside was the spare master card key. "How the hell did you know that?"

"Hey, I spent a good amount of time behind that desk watching those TVs there. I actually learned quite a bit about the security camera system in here."

"Oh, good. That'll definitely be handy. But, we've got to go to the top floor first." He carefully pocketed the card in his pocket and strode towards the elevators. He saw Aragorn's slightly confused and skeptical expression. "Well, you don't want to take the stairs, do you? That's a pretty big climb."

"No, no." He pushed the button and waited. "Why are we going to the top floor? You think the Light's up there?"

"No, but the building's blueprints are up there." The elevator bell dinged and they stepped inside. "I remember looking at them in Dad's office with you."

"So why didn't you memorize them?" He asked tauntingly. "Too much for your brain to handle?"

"We were six!"

Aragorn scoffed. "More like six years ago! We were, like, ten!"

"We were six!" Legolas insisted as he pulled an arrow into his bow. "Six or seven, I'm not that sure which."

"No, we weren't." He, too, readied his bow. The elevator approached the twenty-fifth floor.

"Were too." Twenty-six.

"Were not." Twenty-seven.

"Were too!" Twenty-eight.

"Were not!" Twenty-nine. Their bowstrings creaked as they drew them back.

"Were too!"

Ding. Thirtieth floor. The doors slid open and two arrows shot from the elevator and pierced the hearts of a pair of orcs.

"Not!"

They simultaneously put away their bows, withdrew their respective blades and exited the elevator. In exact rhythm with each other, they fought and slew the small group of Neos and Orcs. One after another, their blades flashed in the fluorescent lighting, rarely skipping a beat. The near-perfect coordination between the two boys stunned the remaining Orcs for the slightest instant before they all lay dead on the floor.

"Neo," Aragorn called with his bow drawn and aimed in Legolas' direction.

He moved just quickly enough to see the arrow shoot by and pierce the attacking Neo's skull. He yanked it out and tossed it back to Aragorn before starting to retrieve his own arrows.

"Thanks, Aaron," he said as he collected his arrows. "But we really were six, seven at most."

"Were not, Leo!"

They cracked identical, mischievous grins and gave each other a few rough scuffles before going down the hall to their fathers' personal offices, laughing the whole way.

Again, the hallways were relatively unharmed, save for a single door at one end. It was battered and beaten with the metal practically ripped to shreds. Like a lot of doors they had seen outside of the building, this one was also barely hanging off its hinges.

"The fire exit," Aragorn muttered. "That's how these damned creatures ever set foot in this place. There's one on every floor, right?"

"Yeah," Legolas said distractedly. "Look; burn marks on the floor and blood trails leading away. Peculiar, isn't it?"

"Very..."

After making a pact to try not to burn the building into a smoldering pile of rubbish, they made their way around the floor to their fathers' private offices. Along the way, they continued to wonder why so little things had been disturbed. Everything looked like the whole floor had just gone out to lunch.

Legolas swiped the key card through the last electronic lock. He was quick to notice more burn marks around the door and on the floor. "Weird. What do you think did that?"

"I personally don't want to meet whatever it is that's doing that." He followed Legolas inside and carefully locked the door behind them.

Inside, like every other room in that building, was covered with a thin layer of dust and looked like it was just waiting for the day to start. The decorations of the company managers' office were similar to the ones in the main lobby in the way of its regality. Windows stretched from the floor to the high ceiling, letting the sunlight pour inside. The office carried both of their fathers' desks and documents; a sign of their own open honesty and trust with one another.

But something about that huge, familiar room was slightly out of the range of normal. They sensed, rather than see, hear or feel, the mysterious entity within that room. They just decided that the feeling was an effect of the surrealism of being in a place from their present childhood and started searching the office for the building blueprints.

"There's just something about those windows that's really annoying me," Aragorn said, frustrated. He paused behind his father's vast desk to look at the windows. "It's this feeling that's just gnawing at me."

"I feel it, too," Legolas said darkly. He was currently going through the cabinets under the bookshelf that occupied an entire wall.

A leather-bound book lay hidden behind some boxes inside. To Legolas, it would have been completely unnoticeable if it didn't look as if it was stored away hastily. He took it out and realized that it wasn't hiding behind some boxes but was just wasn't stored behind the wooden lining properly. Another hidden compartment, it seemed.

"This kind of makes you wonder how many of these things there are in this place," Legolas said to himself. He turned the book over to see what it was about and gasped in surprise.

"What?" called Aragorn. "What is it?"

"It-it looks like a journal. Written by your dad," he said breathlessly, still trying to comprehend what was lying in his hands.

Aragorn had no reply nor could he figure out why it was so shocking. That was until Legolas held it up in a good light for him to see. He could then understand why he was so stunned and also stood still, paralyzed with shock.

"It's bordered with Elvish inscriptions and has the emblem of the White Tree of Gondor!"


	22. Journal Entries

Legolas had offered the diary for only Aragorn to read but the Man had declined saying that he was too close to him for him to care. So, Legolas started reading the entries for both to listen.

" 'Journal of Adam Edward Strickland'," he began. "No dates. You Stricklands have to learn how to be a bit more organized."

"Read the damned entries," Aragorn said bitterly.

" 'Entry one: Today, Thomas' brother, Edwin, gave me this nifty journal to write my thoughts in for my birthday. Thomas, himself, gave me something to actually fill this book with: a plan for a brand-new company to uphold justice. He promised me that he'd always be there to help me, even if we're bankrupt, starving and running from the law.

" 'That vow he made was similar to the one he said to me almost ten years ago in the park that day, when we had barely known each other yet felt like we had spent a lifetime as friends. Barely a week before that, he and I literally crashed into each other in an attempt to by the same album. Since then, we've been inseparable; much like brothers.

" 'No, Brotherhood would be an insult to our bond. It runs much deeper than that.'

" 'Entry two: We've finally set up shop! It can barely fit the necessities for a law firm made of two young amateur lawyers but it'll have to do. It's so cramped in here that I can barely move! But, Tom and I have high hopes for us. Let's have trust in Fate and hope that she'll give us some good fortune.'

"Ah, this is interesting... 'Entry three: Today, I met the woman of my dreams. My angel's name even sounds heavenly: Glorian Firal. Her hair danced so lively when she walked and her eyes held such intrigue that they made my heart stop. I can't keep my mind off her so much that I even find it hard to write in my journal. And I owe it all to the man to introduced me to my love: Thomas Grayfield. I only hope that I can repay him... someday.'"

"Your dad introduced my dad to my mom?" Aragorn exclaimed loudly.

"Apparently," he laughed, "but this next entry says how he introduced my dad to a friend's friend. Must be my mom. I think we'll skip over that one." He flipped the page. "Here we go. Oh, this must be a few years after that entry.

" 'I finally gathered up the courage to ask dear Glorian for her hand in marriage. Miraculously, she said yes! ..."

"No shit," interjected Aragorn.

"... We look forward to spending our lives together. But, first things first and planning the wedding is definitely first on the list. Tom's helping here and there, of course, and I get to put my opinion in about certain things but we all know that Glorian's the one who's going to be planning the wedding. Business is booming so I'll be able to provide many things for the celebration, hopefully all the decorative things she wants. Why do women like ribbons and frills so much?'

"Good question. I don't think anybody knows for sure.

" 'Entry six: It's been six months since my own wedding and I'm now serving as Best Man for Tom's. Only fair since he was Best Man at mine, isn't it? Ha ha ha. It really was no surprise when one of his friends asked him who it was and immediately replied, "Adam, of course... Right, that's what I forgot to ask you. Do you mind?" I laughed and said that I'd be honored. I don't think I'll ever let him live that down. But I think his marriage will definitely be a happy one; he's a good man and wouldn't hurt his family.' Not on purpose, anyway...

" 'Entry seven: Edwin's been in town for barely a week and he's already suggested that we move our headquarters to somewhere a bit more urban. He's said that he's already found a suitable piece of land downtown. We arranged to have a touring next week of the piece of land.

" 'Four hours have passed since my pen last touched this book but I feel as if I need to write this down before I forget; like it's drastically important for me to remember the dream that I just had even though it's three in the morning.

" 'I dreamt about the world as was before skyscrapers, urban sprawl or even the widespread use of refined raw products. Everything was so lush and green that it seemed like a paradise. And across a field, near a flowing river, a shining city of white stone rose up from the ground in front of a range of mountains like a white spike. But before I could see it for all its magnificence, I was whisked to the north, to a small forest and into the presence of a beautiful, glowing woman.

" 'Her face was young and her smile kind but her eyes showed a deep wisdom with the knowledge of dozens of lifetimes. She didn't say anything when I was standing before her.

" 'The forest melted away from us and we were floating above the white city. I watched countless days go by and saw the city expand to across the river. But, with sadness, I saw the city and many others that had developed throughout the land lose their brightness and valor, I suppose. Something good and pure disappeared from these cities. The woman was still with me, her eyes still on me.

" 'A forest to the northwest came into my view. Trees vanished, buildings were built around it and they fell or burned. But a strong beam of light kept shining through. Finally, skyscrapers rose up around us. The piece of land that was formally a forest was built over with another glass skyscraper and the light faded.

" 'But, the skyscraper crumbled and the land was available once again. I looked back at the woman and she was wearing normal clothing. With a final serene smile, she vanished.

" 'Right when she disappeared, the sky grew dark and monsters flooded the city. The light that was hidden under the ground shone once again but was poisoned under the hand of the darkness.

" 'A gaunt, dead face appeared in the light and chilled my very bones. I am eternally grateful that its eyes were closed but it still horrified me.

" 'I woke up drenched in cold sweat but was comforted by the sight of my darling wife behind me. I attempt to go back to sleep in hope that I'll understand what this dream means...'

" 'Entry eight: We met Edwin today at the empty site. Immediately, I recognized it as the place in my dream and I told Tom as we approached them. But what really shocked me was the young woman who was with Ed.

" 'It was the same woman from my dream! Her blonde hair - that looked remarkably like Tom's - was tied up, but she looked exactly as she did in my dream! I asked what her name was and she said, "Gabriel Lewis." She was a graduate of the university Edwin taught at with a major in archaeology.

" 'According to Ed, she heard about us and thought that we should build on this land. When I asked her for a reason, she just shrugged and said, "It feels like a perfect place to build your headquarters on." When I mentioned something about a beacon of light, she just looked at me strangely and changed the topic.'

" 'Entry nine: As per to what Edwin recommended, we installed a security system so technologically advanced that it would be able to burn a mouse inside to a crisp if set to a certain level. Needless to say, we're having quite a bit of fun with it. Luckily, we installed it so that only we can be able to access that level of security and control it.'

"Hey, Aragorn, look at this!" He held up the page for him to see. "Over here, in the margin. What does that look like to you?"

Aragorn examined the tiny pictures in the journal. "It looks like the double helix of deoxyribosenucleic acid. But what's it doing there?"

Legolas shrugged. "Maybe your dad was studying a bit about bio and needed to write down what DNA is and this was the nearest thing? Anyway, continuing..."

" 'Tom, like me, was really confused about why we needed such high security for our firm. Sure, we've made a few enemies along the way, but have we made so many that we need this?

" 'His response was like a riddle. He said, "You will need this defense to guard against the Darkness that looms over the horizon. Like the lantern that holds the candlelight within that guides weary travelers through the night, this building will be a defense for the Light." He put down an envelope sealed with wax and left. Even Tom was confused - and slightly worried - about his brother's behavior.

" 'Inside was a map and a letter. The map had curved, curious designs on it and it looked like a sort of blueprint for the land below the ground under this building. Without knowing what the words say, we dare not try to follow the map.

" 'The letter was far more understandable. It was just warning us to watch out for any signs of disturbing patterns of any sort. In other words, keep on our guard. It also advised to safely hide the map in the securest place we could find. Tom hid it in our secret control room for security.

" 'The thing I found the most interesting was that he called us Thranduil and Arathorn at the end.'

"Why does Fate torture us like this?" he wondered out loud. "It's bad enough that they lost us in the War of the Ring, but having to take up a job of guarding the Light when you should be at rest? Fate does indeed have a cruel sense of humor."

Aragorn was standing near the windows, looking out at the barren city and said nothing.

" 'Entry ten,'" continued Legolas after clearing his throat, " We got our first taste of true evil today. A monster that walked with two legs and hunched forward tried to break into our offices. Thank god it was late and Tom and I were the only ones in the lobby at the time.

" 'It's skin was dull like paper but tough as the skin of a crocodile. It carried a dirty, crude sword, of all things, and had dozens of visible stitches and piercings. A true creature of malevolence.'"

"An Orc? Our fathers actually faced an Orc before!"

" 'It tried to kill us, of course. But we managed to kill it first with the swords that were supposed to be decorating the wall. We both watched it disintegrate into nothingness and I realize now what horror is truly like.'

" 'Entry eleven: I'm a father! Glorian and I are now parents of a beautiful baby boy named Aaron. I haven't been the same man as I was before the attack and I worry that I'm not suited to be a good father. After I told Glorian about my dream, I could tell that she was changed as well.

" 'How can we let our son grow up knowing that such a demon exists? How can we let him live under the threat of being attacked by it? We can't let that happen. We have to keep our defenses strong. We can't let Aaron know, for his sake.'

" 'Entry twelve: It's been almost three years since I had that dream with the face of evil and saw that woman before I even knew she existed. I had another one last night with that same feeling of déjà vu.

" 'I dreamt of a young man, barely older than fifteen or sixteen. He was handsome and full of nobleness with a beautiful sword in his hand. Something about the boy was so familiar though I don't really know who it was.

" 'On the edges of the bright scenery, a shadow crept in. It surrounded the boy, leaving nowhere for him to escape. As it approached him, dark, gruesome creatures rose up from the ground and threatened him with their blades.

" 'The boy tried to fight off the beasts, but he eventually failed and felt the bites of hundreds of swords. The Darkness spread to the whole world and I saw nothing but black.

" 'Now that I'm awake, I know now that I need to do everything I can to prevent that from happening. These dreams aren't just dreams so I know that something is telling me to act. Before it's too late.

" 'Starting tomorrow, I'll constantly be on the lookout for updates for our security system and put in heavier security underground. I'll be damned if I let the bright innocence of this world disappear without a fight.'

" 'Entry thirteen: The last time I wrote in here was so long ago... too long. It's been so long that I've almost forgotten about my dream. That's what started my intensive work habits in the first place. I can't believe how that single dream has changed me.

" 'Looking at our updated security system, I still think that it isn't good enough. That boy in my dream and his gruesome death are still in my memory and this system isn't good enough to protect the Light nor him.

" 'Wait... That boy... It was Aaron. The boy was the exact image of what my son looks like now but without the sword. My god. How can my son be involved in all this? How can such a kind soul like Aaron be thrown into this, if I can even call it, war? Is he the one doomed to die rather than somebody not tied to Tom or me?

" 'I find that it doesn't matter anymore. For that boy's sake - Aaron's sake - I will create a defense for him to live in peace behind.'

" 'Entry fourteen: This will be the last time I write in this journal for a very long time; perhaps even forever. I can feel the Darkness creeping into this city. I don't have much time so I hope to write all I need to write.

" 'Over the years, this building has hidden many secrets. Some are trivial, others deciding the fate of others. But Tom and I have installed a secret for the ones who will save our world. Hopefully, they'll discover this place and use both ancient and modern power found in this building to their use against the Darkness.

" 'We have two hidden rooms: one in our main office and one on the other side of the building. In the secret room by the office, there are many weapons and tools you may use in case of emergency. The one on the other side is the security room with access to every system we have hooked to the main matrix. The map is located there. Although Tom and I can open the security doors, I know that you will somehow get in.

" 'For whomever reads this, please seek out my son, Aaron Strickland. Tell him this: he is my son and I truly love him, even though I may not have realized it or shown him. That is my only request.

" 'I'm sorry, Aaron. Forgive me.' And it, for some reason, ends with the mark of the royal crest of Gondor." He closed the journal and stared at it, remembering the man. "So he knew. Maybe not until just before the Invasion, but he knew."

Aragorn didn't reply once more and had tears in his eyes yet had never felt more joy in his life.

"All this time," he choked out, "I always thought that my old man didn't love me because I was getting in the way of business and he didn't want me alive." He pulled a weak grin. "Now I know that he was just trying to keep me safe from the evils that exist. It was the only way."

"Yeah," Legolas sighed. "They both did it for the protection of what's good and pure in this world so we wouldn't have to." He thought of his own parents sadly. "Too bad that we were destined to do this before we were even born."

With a renewed sense of hope and strength, they prepared themselves. They looked at each other blankly for a moment before Aragorn finally spoke.

"What are we here for, again?"


	23. Ares and the Oracle

"Blueprints!" Legolas said after a minute. "Without them, we wouldn't know where the rooms are, right?"

"Right. So, let's continue."

The entries that Adam Strickland had privately written down had completely distracted them from their original task. But because they read the journal, they knew for sure that the Light of Earendil was somewhere underground. Now, they were carefully searching the office for the elusive blueprints to plan the easiest and safest way through the building.

"Any luck?" Aragorn asked after about an hour.

"No," sighed Legolas. "You?"

"Nope. But I managed to figure out why those windows were bugging me." He went over to them and stroked the drapes. "The window frame is of elvish design. Looks more like an Imladris design, doesn't it? We can thank your Uncle Elrond for that."

Legolas was barely listening. He had followed Aragorn to the window, but not to admire the window frame. When the drapes shifted, he noticed a small groove in the wall behind it that definitely looked out of place.

"What is it?" Aragorn said curiously.

Legolas pushed the drapes away and hit the wall beside the groove with his fist. A slender piece of the wall shifted away automatically and the rolls of blueprints fell to the floor.

"A secret compartment with blueprints and," he reached inside and withdrew a piece of paper, "another blueprint. But it's an ink sketch."

Aragorn gathered the blueprints and spread them out on his father's and Legolas' father's desks. For another hour or two, they pored over the blueprints to find any indication of the rooms mentioned in the journal and any kind of passageway underground.

"According to this thing, there should be a door about three meters ahead and to our right." Aragorn pointed to the gap on the blueprint. They looked and stared at the wall. "Obviously, there is no door. What're we going to do?"

"I don't know," Legolas said slowly. He glanced around the desk while he tried to think and suddenly got an idea. He furled the building's design and began tracing his fingers along the furthest edge of the desk. "Oh, where is it?"

Aragorn simply watched him as his finger stopped near the end and they heard a loud click. Legolas then dove under the desk and opened a small, black box hidden in the corner.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" Aragorn said as he looked under the desk. "What the hell are you doing?"

Legolas didn't reply and pressed a small button after reconnecting some wires. Immediately, several small lights were blinking and there was a square, glowing piece of fiberglass on the desk. He came out from under the desk and pressed it. A thin, translucent fiberglass computer screen steadily rose up from the middle of the desk and flickered on. The sheet of fiberglass in front of him glowed and the keys of a keyboard appeared and became distinctly solid with the help of force fields.

"I love the technology our dads gave themselves," Legolas told Aragorn as he typed in his dad's password. He went through the files quickly, never forgetting where he was going.

He tried to open a locked file but failed. He entered in the bypass code and tried to get in.

"Voice authorization required," a smooth female voice said.

"No wonder our dads liked working in this office so much," chuckled Aragorn. "This voice is more than enough to keep any guy in here."

"Authorization: Grayfield," tested Legolas.

"Voice identification confirmed," the smooth voice said. "Grayfield voice trait confirmed. Access granted."

"All right," said Legolas. He tore through the file, looking for maps of any kind. "Fuck... So I was wrong."

"Wait, wait! Stop right there!" Aragorn cried out. "Go back a few applications."

Legolas did so and smirked at what Aragorn had seen while he was too concerned with finding maps.

"The Ares Room," Legolas said, amused.

"It has to be it. Both our dads loved stuff about ancient times and Ares is the Greek god of war." He waited for him to log into the room's database. "Legolas? What are you waiting for?"

He withdrew a small packet of what looked like crumbled bread from his back pant pocket. He munched on a small piece and offered it to Aragorn. "Lembas? It's in itty-bitty pieces because I sat on it, but it's still good." He put the pouch on the desk and worked on getting into the Ares Room.

Aragorn shrugged and ate a piece of lembas while he felt his appetite wane and listened to the soft tapping of the computer keys.

Click. Beep. Nothing happened on the screen.

"Legolas, what did you do?"

"I don't know. What did I do?"

The computer suddenly popped up a new window that said, "Access Granted" in bright, green letters. A second later, a sound like a room was decompressing echoed in the room. They looked up and watched a piece of the seemingly blank wall slowly depress, split and slide into the sides of the wall. The popup window closed by itself, showing an inventory of the contents of the Ares Room and what they did.

Impressed, Legolas went through the inventory list interestedly. Aragorn went over and peeked into the Ares Room.

"You want something from in here?" Aragorn called from within the room.

"If you could just look around in there for a few minutes, it'd be better," Legolas called back. "There's a lot of cool shit in there so I want to see what kind of shit we're dealing with."

"Sure thing." He stepped in and had a good look around the room.

Compared to the small entrance, the Ares Room itself was very big. Many different kinds of weapons lined the walls and various kinds of tools sat on drawers, tables and glass shelves. Armor ranging from bulletproof vests to chain mail to bracers were displayed in a far corner, connecting the themes of the wall of sword and other blades with the wall of guns. Opposite of the swords and adjacent to the guns were finely crafted metallurgic bow and arrow sets. The wall opposite the guns was what interested Aragorn the most, though. It was divided into two sections: on the left were maces, blade-tipped whips and lances; on the left were dozens of different kinds of hand-held bombs and other projectile weapons. Everything glittered and shined brightly under the halogen lights.

"Wow," breathed Aragorn. He was inspecting the quality of a tiny grenade when Legolas came in, obviously impressed as well. "Cool, isn't it?"

"Oh, hell yeah." He made a beeline for the samurai swords on the other end and used it so fluidly and gracefully that it looked as if he had been practicing for years. "I'd love to take this with me, but I have no room to carry it with me."

"Shame, isn't it?" Aragorn slid a couple of the bomb timers in a chest pocket of his holster and the explosives themselves in a small pack on his belt. "If I could, I'd take some of those swords for the Hobbits. But, I suppose Elvish design is better than any of these, hmm?"

"No, it depends on what you're comfortable with." The Elf put a few diamond-coated and poison-tipped arrows in his quiver. "If you're not comfortable with a weapon, it would do worse rather than good."

"True enough, true enough." He eyed a small earpiece on the table. He put it in his ear and pressed a small button at the back. Instantly, a cool-looking microphone shot out and stopped just centimeters from his mouth. He picked up the other one and tossed it to Legolas. "A walkie-talkie headset. It's bound to come in handy."

Legolas carefully slid it behind his pointy ear and pressed the button. "Keep an open com link for as long as possible." He grabbed a couple of the smallest med kits he could find and tucked them in his belt pouches. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." He took one last bomb and followed Legolas out.

The door automatically shut behind them and once again became invisible against the rest of the redwood wall. The computer logged out of the Ares system immediately after the door closed. While Legolas shut down the computer, Aragorn put the blueprints back but kept the ink sketch map.

Quickly and quietly, they made their way to the other side of the building. Luckily, there was no interference from anything. They came to the end of a hallway and stared at the blank, featureless wall.

"Are you sure it's here?" Legolas asked skeptically.

"That's what the map says. There should be a door or an entrance here." He put his hand on a bomb. "Should I?"

Legolas put up his hand to make him wait for a moment and went to examine the wall more carefully. His fingers ran gently over the ridges of the drywall paint and felt a miniscule rise in the wall. He tried pushing it, but nothing happened. Only with Aragorn's help could they finally depress the lump.

With a click, a small, square piece of the wall bent forward, revealing a screen with the company logo on it. The piece of wall lay perpendicular to the screen and had an indentation lying on it.

"Authorization required," the smooth voice said again. The security camera in the corner swiveled to focus on them.

"Authorization: Grayfield."

"Insufficient data," replied the voice. A small gun dropped from the camera and shot a small burst of what looked like lasers.

Legolas yelled and stepped aside in time to see a scorch mark on the wall right where he had been a second before.

"Wait," Aragorn said, an idea appearing in his mind. He took out his dagger and carefully cut his fingertip. Bright, red blood blossomed on his fingertip and started to flow down his finger. After licking away the excess blood, he pressed his bloody finger onto the outstretched panel.

"What...?"

"Authorization confirmed," the voice announced. "Secondary authorization required."

Aragorn carefully cut Legolas' finger and prompted him to press his finger on the panel, which had already cleaned itself of all of Aragorn's residual blood. Slightly confused but confident, he did so.

"Secondary authorization confirmed."

From the security panel, silver lines extended to all ends of the wall. The panel itself closed and became as invisible against the wall again while an intricately designed door opened. The silver lines seemed to have made a design of an elegant spider web and was pulling the door open, into the wall.

"Welcome, Mr. Strickland and Mr. Grayfield. You are now entering the Oracle's Chamber."

As the doors opened, the lights within the Chamber began to light up, one by one. It was a circular room with a giant monitor on the wall directly ahead of them. At first, they could only see a single podium-like control stand in front of the giant screen. As the lights switched on, two large strips of computer modules that paralleled the room's curvature were seen. Above each module were no less than a dozen large fiberglass panels. The boys weren't quite sure how, but the panels were hovering silently in the air looking slightly askew from their proper place.

Legolas followed Aragorn inside, sucking on his cut finger. He threw him a hurt look over his finger.

"That won't work on me, Legolas."

"Damn," he hissed. He tore off a bandage from a med kit and wrapped it around his finger. "So why'd you cut me? For the hell of it?"

"Because," Aragorn said over his shoulder as he tried logging into the Oracle, "the system needed both of our DNA sequences."

"Ahh... Okay. That makes sense. We carry the Grayfield and Strickland genes - at least, half of them - so the system has no choice but to let us in."

"Biology comes in handy." He let out a frustrated growl when he was denied access again.

Legolas sighed and pushed his friend away from the console. He unwrapped his bandage and reopened the cut on his finger. He and Aragorn watched as his blood drew out and a couple drops splashed onto the console.

As the blood was absorbed into the console, more functions on it began to light up with the same technology as their fathers' personal computers. The two curved modules behind them flowed with power and the panels above them flickered on and shifted into their default positions.

"How is it that you figured out how to open the door with blood but not how to log into the Oracle System with blood?" Legolas asked him tauntingly while re-wrapping the bandage around his finger. "It's the same basic principle."

Aragorn just laughed and said, "I was good at bio but I can't figure out computers that well. Only a seventy-two in technology."

"And yet you can wire bombs," laughed Legolas. He was attempting to access the main Oracle system while he talked to him.

"That's because Gimli taught me."

Legolas had just shot him a startled look when the main screen opened a video file by itself. The file started to play and they found themselves listening to a video message recorded by a man that they knew all too well.

"Dad?" Legolas whispered.


	24. Return to the Warehouse

The elevator bell suddenly dinged in the warehouse, making Sam and Gollum jump in surprise. Sam warily put his hand on his sword and cautiously watched the doors slide open.

"Sam!" Frodo stepped out of the elevator with Gandalf, Gimli, Merry and Pippin. "What were you going to do with that sword?"

"Nothing, Mister Frodo!" He quickly put his hand away from his sword. "Well, you did give me and Gollum a bit of a scare," he added.

"How is he?"

Gollum was quietly sitting in his chair, muttering to himself again. However, Sam noticed that his growls and snarls were becoming less threatening and less frequent during the last couple of days.

"He's borderline behaving," reported Sam. "Haven't had anything to eat for a while since he can't eat lembas and won't eat anything but fish."

"Oh, we can remedy that," Merry said happily. He and Pippin unwrapped the packs they were carrying and withdrew four large bass. "Fresh fish right out of a river."

"Compliments of our dear friend, Treebeard," added Pippin. "We can't forget how generous he is."

Gollum stared at the raw fish hungrily and started shaking with hunger. He had nothing to eat for two days except for canned fish, which he quickly grew tired of. Surprisingly, both he and Sam refused to eat the frozen fish in the freezer.

"We're hungry, but we're not THAT hungry yet," Sam had said.

Now, Gollum was ravenous and wanted nothing more than to taste the raw meat of one of those fishes.

"Should we give a whole one to him?" Merry wondered.

"I don't see why not," Gandalf said. "The sad creature has had nothing but tins of tuna fish, judging from the empty cans here by the sink." He poked a can and frowned at Sam before putting them into a bin.

"I don't think we should give him a whole one," objected Sam.

Gollum glared at him and growled. Frodo quietly sighed and shook his head. He was growing tired of their constant hatred of each other. Now, to him, it seemed to exist for the sake of existing.

"Nassty Hobbit wants us to starve!" Gollum yelled at him. "We've nothing but scraps of the stuff Hobbitses and Elveses and wizards call 'tuna'. The fat Hobbit always looks for ways to hurts us!"

"No!" Sam yelled back. "I don't want to waste food and for you to get a lousy stomachache! I know you can't finish one of those bass all by yourself."

Frodo was stunned at Sam's sudden show of kindness. Merry and Pippin, not knowing the full story of Frodo and Sam's journey with Gollum, cheered and went to the kitchen counter to clean the fish. Sam told them to cut one for Gollum and they happily did so.

"Sam seems to have taken a very different attitude, according to your reaction," Gandalf said to Frodo as he made his way to couch.

"It certainly seems like it," sighed Frodo. He watched Sam lay the rather large piece of raw fish in front of Gollum who, to the best of his ability, ate it gratefully.

"But something else troubles you, doesn't it?"

Frodo nodded and sat next to him on the couch. He looked at Merry and Pippin cleaning the remaining fish and Sam's disgusted face when he watched Gollum eat but never really saw them nor did he listen to their singing yet he could hear them.

"Perhaps it's because I learned that dark hearts can't be changed," said Frodo. He looked at his outstretched fingers. His attention turned to his left index finger and moved it, like he was making sure it worked. "I learned that lesson the hard way."

"You worry that he'll go back on his word again. Like he did to you in Shelob's cave. But, I do not think that will happen in this quest we're in now."

"Why not? He did it before so he's able to do it again."

"Yes, Gollum is indeed able to betray us to the Darkness again simply out of hatred about what has happened. But, Smeagol may be of particular help.

"Kindness is rewarded with kindness, Frodo. Just like how mercy is awarded to the merciful. Smeagol remembers your kindness in the past and knows that Sam is making an effort. He will show you kindness someday."

"I just hope it won't be too late. Receiving kindness and mercy is one thing, Gandalf, but being able to appreciate it is an entirely different thing. If it's too soon or too late, any chance of goodwill may be lost."

"It may be, but it will never completely lost as long as one or both sides have hope that it will not be lost."

Frodo smiled at this revolution and looked back at Gollum and Sam. Gollum was warily glaring at Sam but with visibly less malice and with a touch of curiosity. Sam, however, didn't notice because he was busy watching Merry and Pippin dance around and sing. With his heart more at peace, he decided to watch as well.

Suddenly, a crash of ceramics breaking was heard and a mug lay on the floor in pieces.

"Pippin!"

"Sorry!"

--- ---

It was about mid-afternoon, after a proper lunch of poached fish and potatoes, when Sam had unwittingly noticed something.

"Hey... where're Aragorn and Legolas?"

"We were wondering when you'd finally take notice," Pippin told him. He and Merry were playing cards on the couch. "We were just talking about it, actually."

"We don't exactly know where they are," answered Gandalf. He gently blew out a smoke flower and Frodo and Gimli watched it float through the air in amazement. "But I haven't a doubt that they are perfectly fine."

"How can you be so sure?" Frodo asked nervously.

"Because it's Aragorn and Legolas," he chuckled. "Those two boys seem to function the best when getting into trouble to correct the larger trouble that's present."

"Yeah," agreed Frodo. He paused and his eyes followed a fragile smoke bird float by. He added, "That and the fact that they're also Aaron and Leo."

They all laughed and agreed.

"It's their second-nature to pull off a stunt like to get the Light by themselves and actually get away with it," laughed Gimli. "Like this time in chemistry class..."

Gollum and Smeagol tried to listen to their conversation but obviously didn't understand a thing they said. Gollum couldn't have cared less about their petty past that didn't concern him, unlike the Master or the long-destroyed Precious, and quickly got bored and fell asleep, leaving Smeagol in control.

Smeagol was vaguely interested in what they were talking about. True, he didn't care much about what kind of idiotic yet brilliant thing Aaron and Leo did or what Pete had done once in history class but was piqued by the fun they were having by simply remembering memories of the past.

'They all seem so happy,' Smeagol thought to himself. 'They laughs with such joy and happiness. Even the fat Hobbit laughs when someone other than Master Hobbit talks about stuff that had happened before.

'What memories does Smeagol have? Perhaps we can think of one we can all laugh about. Yesss. Then Smeagol can laugh too.' A faint smile appeared on his face when he thought of laughing and talking with the others but it quickly disappeared when he tried to come up with a memory for them to talk happily about.

'Smeagol doesn't have any happy memories,' he thought glumly. 'Smeagol only has memories of being alone and cold. So very cold. Smeagol only remembers the Precious and the pain of seeing it with someone else. The pain and the torture it gives us! The cursed, wretched Precious!

'The Master Hobbit and the fat one tried to destroy it. Yesss, Precious. But it was Smeagol who did it. Smeagol felt the searing hot pain of fire and the bitter coldness of being alone. So alone.

'The Darkness is powerful, Precious. Yes, very powerful. But it is cold and unforgiving, like the Master. Perhaps Gollum was right. Smeagol has no friends he can talk to. Smeagol has no friends at all.

'Will Smeagol ever have any friends?' he thought dully before falling asleep in his chair.

It was a few hours afterward when one of the Fellowship had noticed that he was asleep and not faking it. Gimli waved his hand in front of his face to make sure.

"Since when did this creature fall asleep?" he wondered.

"I don't know," replied Sam, "but I'm not surprised. A full stomach after starving for a couple days would make anybody want to go to sleep." He sat comfortably on the couch. "Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Frodo's attention was so concentrated at the comment that he could think of nothing else. Clearly surprised, he asked, "Since when did you start defending him? A few days ago, you were still calling him names!"

In the days of Middle-Earth and the Ring, Sam regarded Smeagol as a traitorous murderer who talked to himself and planned nothing except for his recovery of his Precious. In the end, both him and Frodo realized that he was right about him. Now, in the present, instead of remaining so guarded and suspicious of him, Sam seemed to look at him with a true pitying expression on his face.

"I don't know, Mister Frodo," Sam said quietly. He chuckled softly. "I think I know what you meant now when you said that you did pity him when we first met the likes of him. He's really just a confused soul that's been corrupted and influenced so much by evil that he really doesn't know what he's doing."

"Oh, Sam," sighed Frodo, relieved that he finally understood what he had seen in Gollum. "Why couldn't you have seen it before?"

"Please, Frodo," begged Sam, "stop asking me questions I can't answer! I don't understand how the dimension of Time works and how one action in the past can destroy the world in the present!"

Everybody laughed once again the light mood, except for Pippin, who looked amused and confused at the same time.

"Time's a dimension? I didn't know that!"

Merry rolled his eyes and said, "I'll explain the theories to you later, Pip. Then, we'll be confused about it together, okay?"

"Agreed! Confusion loves company, doesn't it?"

Gandalf sighed in exasperation but didn't bother to say anything and just continued to puff out smoke. He shaped the smoke to appear like objects to keep Frodo and Gimli entertained while they all waited for Aragorn and Legolas to return. After a short while, he caught a glimpse of Sam sitting on the couch, seemingly watching Merry and Pippin play cards and discuss the theories of Time and its repercussions.

"I wonder what would've happened if we didn't die outside the Black Gate," Pippin said. "What do you think would've happened to us?"

"Ah, well, Aragorn would've been crowned King of Gondor, obviously," Merry said as he put down a card. "I don't know if we could've made it back to the Shire together or not, though. What with Frodo and Sam trapped in that damned mound of rock we called Mount Doom and all."

Sam managed to tune them out and began musing about recent events and analyzing them in an almost philosophical manner.

'It's really very interesting how Time preserved our souls and our likenesses so well from Middle-Earth yet it changed how we think about things. Like how Aragorn and Legolas were always incredibly good fighters but, in the past, they always seemed to be a little sad about everything, including the Quest. They always seemed to hate admitting that they came from royal lines. Now, they're always enthusiastic, like usual, to do something practical, if not stupid, but they do it without having to worry about their reputations.

'Speaking of change, Gollum, or Smeagol or whatever he's called, he's definitely changed. He's free of the Ring now, but the damage it's caused him is still there. I can still see the ruthlessness, the cunning and the evilness that he had back in Middle-Earth. But, for some reason, now I see a deep loneliness in him and the pain and regret he has for taking the Ring in the first place. He's definitely changed.

'Or maybe it's me who's changed. I don't think I've changed. I can tell everybody else has. Mister Frodo's a lot more cautious now around Gollum; Merry and Pip help each other out whenever they can but still let each other do their own things; Gimli's a lot more friendly to everybody and a lot more loyal; and Gandalf's realized that us Hobbits are able to do things.

'But, I have to wonder this: Is this change good?'

A sudden noise from outside brought him back to his senses and got everybody's attention. Automatically, they all reached for one of their weapons. A loud bang and several snarls brought the blades out of their casings with a flash. Gimli ran upstairs while the door banged loudly.

It banged again.

And again, even louder. They all prepared themselves to fight. They heard a distinct clunk from the upper level.

With a resounding slam, the door flew open.


	25. Grayfield and Strickland

The face of Thomas Grayfield smiled down at the two stunned boys. Legolas wanted to say something to his father, but found nothing to say.

"If you're seeing this video message, then you've successfully been able to get into the Oracle's Chamber," Thomas Grayfield said. "But, unfortunately, this is only a recording."

The expression on his face suddenly softened and a warm smile crept across his lips.

"I'm proud of you, Leo. Somehow, I knew that you'd make it this far. I'm willing to bet that Aaron's with you, isn't he? If you're watching this, then be sure that we're really proud of you boys."

Legolas and Aragorn exchanged surprised glances and wondered at the same time how he knew.

"In case you're wondering, this message was set to show if the Chamber's security doors were opened without too much trouble. Since, to my knowledge, only me, Adam and you boys can safely access the Oracle's Chamber. If anybody else is with you, I don't know.

"But, it doesn't matter. As long as you're not being held against your will, it doesn't. The information that we have should be shared by all those who embody the attribute of Light and those who oppose the Darkness.

"All over the world, demons and monsters roam. As I make this recording, there are none but Adam and Edwin have seen it. Even I feel that something horrible will happen. Obviously, it has since there is no other reason for you to be here, watching this video. So, as you stand there listening to me, the Dark forces grow further into the world.

"Now, I seem to remember a message I received from Dr. Lewis. She told us that you guys went to the museum, without telling us," he added, "and saw her exhibit." He sighed and seemed to look at them fondly for a while in reflection.

Legolas and Aragorn knew in their hearts what he was going to say but still waited anxiously to hear him say it.

"I suppose I can still call you my son but now I must call you Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood. And I would gladly kneel before the King if I were there and if I hadn't other issues to address.

"About a kilometer beneath this building lies the Light of Earendil, which Gandalf had buried there long ago and purposely made himself forget about it. Since then, an impermeable stone door has been installed by... somebody. I tried to open it when we first discovered it, Adam tried to open it and we both failed. Spectacularly, too.

"There was writing on the stone, but neither of us could read it. It looked amazingly familiar, like we had seen it hundreds of times before but we just couldn't read it. To mask the true door, we made some fake doors around the real one but dyed the real inscriptions with a chemical that reacts to ultraviolet light. You can find a couple UV flashlights in here under the desks.

"Finally, I'd just like to tell you boys that you can use the company's security system to your heart's content. It includes a full range of pressure sensitive areas that includes the walls as well as the floor and it can be set to as low as 0.25 seconds and as light as 2.3 pounds. All the security cameras have a small gun equipped with technology that releases a short pulse of high energy. Of course, if I try to tell you all the features, it'd take forever. I'll let you play with the system yourself.

"We really wish that we could be there to help you," he said warmly, "but we're sure that you guys will succeed. Good luck with your mission and... I hold we'll see each other again in this world."

Thranduil gave them one last encouraging smile and the giant screen flickered off. The modules behind them beeped and automatically granted them access to the system.

"Hannon le, Ada," Legolas said softly. He said a silent prayer of gratefulness in his heart. After a moment, he glanced at the online modules with a sense of anticipation in his eyes and grinned.

"You ready to go?" Aragorn said with a smirk.

"Hell, yeah!"

Both boys settled into the gliding seats, which were attached to the modules with Legolas practically jumping into the seat. In a matter of minutes, the modules showed the images the cameras in the building were sending.

"Find anything interesting?" Legolas asked as he continued scanning the security cameras.

"Yup. I found a party of Orcs that looks like they're locking for a place to raid. I'm seeing this on camera A-11."

Legolas pulled up the camera feed. "Ooh, they don't look all that happy, do they? Do you think they can get any unhappier?"

"With me controlling the camera, yes," he replied in a semi-serious, semi-amused tone. He laughed and flipped his hair out of his face. "Let's have some fun, shall we?"

He carefully aimed the cameras towards the group of Orcs that had come in to investigate the fresh scent of Orc blood. Through the camera, he saw that they were already suspicious and frightened about what could have caused it. He could tell that they were talking about what sort of creature could get past their defenses.

"You can hear what they're saying if you enable the mini-mics," Legolas called over his shoulder. He was going through the other systems while Aragorn monitored the cameras. "Go back to the main camera matrix to see if it's there."

Aragorn managed to find it and turned it on.

"Do you think it could've been another squadron who did this?" one nervously growled to the others. It was quite a bit smaller than the rest.

"Possibly, but I doubt it." said another one. He had a long scar down the side of his face. "They don't look like they struggled. It was a swift, unexpected attack." He looked at the dead orcs' wounds. "By a smooth, sharp blade. This is no attack by Orc."

The whole Orc group snarled and snapped their teeth nervously and looked around the room, as if they were expecting something to fly through the walls and attack them.

"It was a demon!" the little one cried out. "A demon that kills everything in its path with a single stroke! We shouldn't be here if something like that's in here!"

"Coward!" roared the Orcs.

The largest Orc put its blade up to the little one's throat. "We will not back down from our mission because of a fool's thought of a demon," he said derisively. "The Master sent us here to retrieve a weapon underground and we will get it for him. Demon or no demon."

He pressed his sword deeper into its throat when he made his point clear and released it with a growl.

"Let's move out!"

Aragorn watched as they moved out of range of the camera. He followed their movements through the floor and watched them try to find their way around. He soon realized that he couldn't watch all of them by the cameras but had a childish, ingenious idea.

"Computer, this system has bio-electric detection throughout the whole building, right?" Aragorn asked.

"Affirmative," answered the smooth voice. "Would you like to enable it?"

"Yes, I would like that," he said smoothly. He glided across the module, enabling security features, programming others, and tweaking still others. He finished his little computer-programming project by initializing a voice identification password. "Set timer for five minutes. Voice authorization code for disabling: Aragorn alpha one zero."

The computer beeped as it stopped recording his voice. "Voice authorization code stored. Secondary code required."

"Secondary authorization code for disabling," Legolas said clearly, "Legolas omega zero one."

The computer beeped in confirmation and the main screen above Aragorn's console blanked and had nothing but giant numbers that flashed five minutes. Aragorn himself packed up all of his equipment and rummaged under the desk for the UV flashlight.

"What're you going to do?" Legolas asked, concerned.

"Just -- ah!" Aragorn yanked out a large flashlight and flashed it on and off to test it. A vivid purple light flashed on and off. "Just watch my back, won't you?"

Legolas nodded vaguely, but still wore a worried look on his face. "But what are you going to do?"

Aragorn didn't answer him but just gave him a grim smile. He fastened the flashlight securely to his belt and cocked his gun. He stepped in range of the automatic door and paused with a small second thought.

He shook his head a little. "Computer, start the five minute countdown now."

The five minutes stopped flashing and started the countdown. Legolas realized in horror what Aragorn was attempting to do and whirled around to call out to him, but the doors had already slid shut. The Elf tried opening it, but the doors refused to open.

"Fuck, Aragorn!" He yelled out furiously. "What the hell are you trying to pull? You're going to get yourself killed!"

"Shit, Legolas, not that loud!" Aragorn's voice said irritably in his ear. "I can hear you fine without you yelling into the earpiece."

The earpieces! Legolas had completely forgotten about them. They were so lightweight that they were virtually weightless. He suspected that their fathers had somehow manufactured mithril and constructed many of the hidden equipment with it, including the earpieces.

"Sorry," he said, softer this time, "but you're a fucking idiot to be trying to pull off this stunt by yourself." He returned to his desk and pulled out a couple gloves with faintly glowing fingertips. "Let me guess: you locked the door for five minutes."

"Yup. Can't risk you coming around and screwing up my plan."

"Thanks," he replied dryly. He stood in the middle of the room and used the gloves to move the giant timer to the lower right corner of the main screen. "Wherever you are, you better hurry up; you've got two minutes left."

"Watch my back," he repeated. Legolas heard echoing footsteps running down stairs. "Southwest stairwell. I just passed the twentieth floor," he panted.

"Right." With a few waves of his hands, he moved the mobile screens to join the main one. He made a grabbing motion to the information he had on his screens and moved them to the main screen. He then spread the camera feeds throughout the added screens.

"You've got nothing ahead of you until the third floor," he reported. The timer in the corner went off and flashed four zeros in red. "And your timer just reached zero," he added.

"Perfect," came Aragorn's voice. "Remember..."

"I'm watching your back, damn it!" He was literally watching his friend fly down the stairwell through the cameras.

Before, Aragorn had kept close to the inner railing to reduce his path down the stairs. But now, he was carefully running in the middle of the stairwell. He slowed down and carefully turned the corners so he wouldn't touch anything. As he ran down and approached the single digit floors, he could faintly hear the cameras whirr as they swiveled to focus on him. This was very good news for him. His plan was working.

"By the way, Legolas," he said as he slowed to a walk and looked at a camera above him, "don't touch the walls or railings if you're leaving the Chamber."

"Is this for my own good?" Legolas gushed into his earpiece. "How sweet of you, Aragorn."

Aragorn said nothing but prominently made a rude gesture towards the nearest camera as he walked down. This earned both of them a few chuckles.

The young Man soon heard footsteps coming from the nearest entrance on the fourth floor. He quickly made his way past the door and further down the stairs, deliberately making as much noise as he could. As expected, the door slammed open and a trio of Orcs stormed into the stairwell, looking for the source of the racket.

"Hi," greeted Aragorn from a flight of stairs lower. He put on a jovial smile. "How are you today?"

Up in the Oracle's Chamber, Legolas didn't know whether he should laugh or yell at him. He satisfied himself by giving him an amused scoff and said, "You're awfully confident in yourself, aren't you?"

"You know it," he muttered. He was already running down the remaining stairs with the trio of Orcs close behind him.

Aragorn suddenly realized that he had made a fatal mistake when he approached the closed metal door that led to the main level. He was just starting to panic when the doors flung open and he ran through them.

"You said to watch your back," said Legolas through the earpiece.

"Thanks!" He saw a faint series of glowing panels just beyond him on the wall by the elevators. He sprinted to gain more distance ahead of the Orcs but he tripped over a spare bit of carpet beneath his feet and he fell with a thud.

"Well, well, well," an Orc said hungrily, "our rabbit tripped over his own big feet." He waved his dirty sword and watched with glee as Aragorn tried to scramble away from them on the floor.

"What do you think we should do with him?" another Orc asked the others. "Should we cut him up after whipping him for a few days?"

"No," growled the last Orc, all three slowly advancing towards the scrambling Aragorn, "the whipping tears the meat and it doesn't taste as good."

"Yeah, we should boil him in oil!"

While they were trying to scare him, Aragorn had been slowly moving down the hall purposely and with a fake look of fear on his face. He hoped that the Orcs bought the act and they did. All of a sudden, he just stopped moving at the end of the elevator hall, put on a horrified expression and just waited for the Orcs to approach him. Luckily, he didn't have to wait very long.

"Yeah," one Orc agreed, "but we should skin bits of him before we put him in!"

The other Orcs roared with laughter and cheer and raised their swords, inches from Aragorn.

Immediately, he flipped himself onto his feet, away from the Orcs and pressed his hand onto he wall. With a grin he said, "I think you should try something fried."

The panels suddenly flashed and strong currents of electricity crackled between them, instantly frying the three Orcs into charred bodies. Before everything melded together, Aragorn noticed a small, portable communicator, not unlike the ones that police officers used.

He had just taken a step when a camera had just missed him, leaving a faint charred mark on the wall. Very carefully and hurriedly, he avoided the guns and jumped behind the security desk.

The camera-guns kept firing towards his direction and he was preparing to run out to try to dodge the bullets when a hidden gun equipped with a bioelectric identifier appeared behind the desk and took aim. In his shock, his nerves froze and he didn't move.

He waited, with his heart beating rapidly, for the gun to fire, but it didn't. Suddenly, he became aware that all the other guns had ceased fire.

"Friendly bio-electric signature recognized," the computer voice said calmly. The gun barrel that Aragorn was looking down with wide eyes and panicky breaths shrank back into the shadows of the desk and once again hid behind a hidden panel.

"You said to watch your back, didn't you?" Legolas explained again through the earpiece.

"You'll be disappointed to know that I have no idea how to do whatever it is you just did, then." He waited for Legolas behind the security desk.

"Actually, I'm not," he said dryly. "Nor am I surprised."

Needless to say, Legolas received a hard smack over the head when he met up with Aragorn.

Together, they made their way underground, through the sublevel parking levels with their UV flashlights. They found a secret passageway by solving a riddle inscribed into the stone and seen only in UV light. Before they went through the hidden doorway, they could hear the laser fire from upper levels and the pained yells and snarls of Orcs.

Legolas looked at Aragorn, who returned the look of nervous determination. They stared into the dark void and the ominous feeling they felt reminded them strongly of the Paths of the Dead. Legolas could faintly hear whispers coming from the darkness and could definitely feel the familiarity of Middle-Earth.

"I do not fear death!" Aragorn braced himself and went through the secret door.

After the slightest moment's hesitation, Legolas followed his friend through and the door slid shut behind them, once again becoming seamless beside the gray concrete wall of the parking lot.

--- ---

Sheep: I'm sorry for the cliffhangers from the previous two chapters! I know, I know, they're annoying but they keep readers interested.

I know as a reader, they're horrible. But, as an author, I feel like I need to have a couple cliffhangers. Just for the sake of being an author.


	26. The Light's Guardians

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Mini Cooper Corporation.

--- ---

The dark tunnel was only lit by the occasional dull light bulb hanging from the ceiling. But they were, more often that not, were walking in the darkness by the light of their UV flashlights. Unfortunately, those flashlights only emitted a purple light that wasn't a lot of help to the boys. One of them kept their eyes on the ground to watch out for stairs.

"Be careful," warned Legolas. He threw out his hand to stop Aragorn and signaled that there were stairs. "Caution should be used, Aragorn," he said, subtly reverting to his princely state of mind.

They went down the stairs together, carefully. The stairs were steep, room enough for barely three people to walk on. On both sides of them were what looked like sheer drops into the shadows. Without a stronger source of light, neither of them wanted to find out where the voids ended. They went slowly, for the stairs were steep and narrow.

The final chamber that the stairs led to couldn't have been more different than the journey to it. It wasn't brightly lit, but it had the sense of timelessness. There were a few hanging lanterns around the room that still held a small flame. The soft glow that they emitted showed faint lines along the walls.

Without wasting time, they waved the UV light around the walls. Nothing reacted to the light.

"Thranduil had said that the correct door would glow under the light of these flashlights, didn't he?" said Aragorn.

"Yes," Legolas said quietly. "Unless my senses were clouded by some kind of spell." He slowly directed his flashlight around the room, but still nothing glowed. "Perhaps he left us the wrong light."

"Perhaps. But I'd rather hope that we are missing something rather than doubt the deeds of our fathers."

The hairs on the back of Legolas' neck prickled with the cold chill he felt creep up his back, as if something powerful and unseen was in the room with them. He tried to calm his nerves but the lanterns flickered with a wind that neither boy had felt. Shadows danced across the walls, giving the impression that ancient souls resided there.

Legolas suddenly became aware that his flashlight was almost burning hot and dropped it, letting it roll across the floor.

Both he and Aragorn watching nearly invisible lines on the floor light up like fire when the violet beams were thrown onto them. Aragorn shone his flashlight onto the middle of the room, where a small, circular design sat.

"Ghosts watch us in this very room," he said, "but they are kind to have shown us where the Light is."

Legolas nodded and also shone light upon the floor. He easily recognized more script from the ancient past.

"'Balance of light and darkness should be maintained,'" he read aloud, "'conflict shall arise if the balance is disrupted. The guardians look over this balance. Only the guardians shall use this weapon. Only the strong will open."

"It was the Lady Galadriel who wrote this, was it not?"

"I wouldn't doubt it. Nor would I doubt that Gandalf had some influence on this inscription."

"Of course. It speaks in nothing but riddles."

It was then when both had noticed a curious oval design below the central design. There were two ovals and looked oddly familiar. Only when Legolas walked towards the design did Aragorn realize what it was and put him on the two ovals.

"What...?"

The ovals beneath his feet glowed brightly and the light poured into the designs around him, creating a ring of light, almost painfully bright in the darkness. The light was especially strong around Legolas, bathing him with pale light from the ground. The rest of the floor flowed with the light and Legolas noticed small instructions in front of him on the far end of the floor.

"I am Prince Legolas of the ancient Elvenwood of Greenwood the Great," he said clearly in Sindarin. His voice rang out in the silence. A ghostly collection of voices whispered around the empty room.

"Aragorn, last of the Numenoreans and I," he continued, "wish to use the ancient power of Earendil to battle against the coming Darkness."

The whispering grew louder and the lanterns began flickering once again. But, Legolas stood his ground with Aragorn close by.

"We come as guardians of Light in hope to use the star of Earendil to restore balance upon this world!" The whispers continued to fly by his ears. He realized what they were asking for.

"I, Legolas Greenleaf of the Greenwood elves, swear an oath with the strength of my blood that I will do all that I can to do justice to the Darkness and correct the imbalance that exists." He unwrapped his bandage and reopened his wound. He could almost feel the spirits fly around his hand, smelling and tasting the blood.

"I make a blood oath," he said as he held his wound over the center design, which was glowing like a spotlight and watched a drop of blood fall to the ground. "And I call the spirits present to be my witness and hold me to my word."

The central design shot a blinding shot of light to the ceiling. Both of the boys shielded their eyes, but Legolas looked under his arm and saw the ground open and a small phial levitate out from the earth.

Suddenly, all light ceased to exist except for the soft glow of the lanterns that now swung slowly from the ceiling. Even the UV flashlights were extinguished.

Legolas watched the crystal bottle wobble slowly and come to a halt. He picked it up and watched the gossamer threads of light in the phial shimmer.

"All this for a puny little bottle," Aragorn said and looked over his shoulder to look at the phial. "An incredibly valuable bottle, but a puny little bottle, nonetheless."

A loud crash was heard from the stairs and the lights began to flicker and die. Both of them looked towards the stairs in complete darkness and heard the roars and yells of Orcs and Neos.

"They're down here!" yelled an Orc. "I can smell the stench of an Elf and Man down there."

"Crap!" exclaimed Legolas. He quickly put the delicate phial in a belt pocket and followed Aragorn up the stairs. Blood pounded in his ears but he could still hear the thundering footsteps of the incoming Orcs.

"Legolas," cried out Aragorn. "Get the Light out!" He drew out his guns and switched the safeties off.

With his left hand, he drew out the Light of Earendil and, with his right, he pulled out his Magnum handgun and got ready.

"_Aiya Earendil Elenion Ancalima_!" His voice rang out the beautiful tongue of the Elves and shook the confidence of many Orcs.

The small phial Legolas held in his hand swirled the light within. The threads of light intertwined and grew, giving strength to him and Aragorn and blinding their dark foes. Indeed, the Light of Earendil possessed strength that none there could match. Those who opposed the force of it had fear struck in their hearts and had their eyes blinded by its purity. To the ancient friends of the Elves and the stars, it was almost as if the essence of Earendil was with them.

Aragorn shot the Orcs in their way with the magically charged guns that had bullets that left a golden trail of light in its wake and killed the Orcs instantly. He moved the falling Orcs aside into the voids beside the narrow stairs. He wanted Legolas to help, but he could do little but hold the Light of Earendil for guidance.

Once out into the parking lot, Legolas made use of himself and shot a party of Orcs and Neos in a matter of seconds. He ran towards the stairs leading to the street with Aragorn following closely.

"Run faster!" urged Aragorn as they ran up the stairs.

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" It was quite difficult for the Elf to run with so many restrictions around him.

They exploded out onto the street and Aragorn kept prompting them to keep running, even though they were quite tired from running up so many stairs. They had just crossed the street when Aragorn's pocket beeped.

The building lit up with the light from strong electrical currents. Some floors remained dark, like the ones higher than the tenth floor, but the base of the building crackled with electricity. Several windows shattered because of the excess static electricity and some fleeing Orcs.

The Orcs passed by Aragorn and Legolas at first, not caring or noticing them on the street. It was only after an Orc had stopped and turned back to try to kill them did one of the boys open fire. Unfortunately, before the body had fallen to the ground or the gun had stopped smoking, all the remaining Orcs knew perfectly well that they were there.

Legolas, who was holding the smoking gun, swiftly stuffed the crystal phial in a belt pouch, put his gun back in its holster and prepared his bow.

Aragorn kept a handgun out but drew out Anduril and looked at the surrounding Orcs. His hands were steady and he showed no fear in his eyes despite the mounting odds against him and Legolas.

"Do you still fear death, Aragorn?" Legolas asked out of the corner of his mouth with his bow drawn and arrow in place.

"No," he replied. "I only fear regret."

"As do I. Good luck, mellon nin."

Again, they fought together like a well-timed, thought-out pair of performance warriors. Renewed with the prospects of discovering their fathers' true intentions and being in possession of the Light of Earendil, they fought without holding themselves back or with any doubt in their minds or hearts. In their eyes, there was a sense of fierce duty and hope that shined like beacons of light.

The Orcs grew doubtful of their own side surviving this encounter with them and feared the new confidence and determination that they felt and saw in Aragorn and Legolas. In the blur of the battle, many Orcs could feel the ancient magic that the boys wielded in their hearts. They could see the fabled King of Men and the royal Prince of Mirkwood as they fought.

However, as powerful as they seemed to be, Aragorn and Legolas soon started to feel fatigued and they saw no end to the Orcs.

With a solution in his mind, Legolas swiftly switched back to guns and concentrated on shooting a small area of Orcs. A rapid succession of gunfire echoed around them and the crowd of Orcs thinned out in that area.

"Aragorn!" He grabbed his arm and, using the techniques he learned in high school, sprinted through and around the Orcs and only let go of Aragorn when they were a decent distance away from them. "How does a testing of a new toy sound?" he asked while running.

"Sounds fun." He grinned and began attempting to assemble a small bomb on the run and in the dying light.

The band of Orcs noticed the sunset as well and the monstrous growls intensified. A sense of dark hope was instilled in them as natural darkness settled into the city. They were almost within attack range when they turned a city corner.

"Take cover," warned Aragorn. He flicked the safety pin off the successfully assembled explosive and tossed it high over his shoulder. He was pulled into a small, tight crevice between two buildings by Legolas.

The small bomb soared through the air, in a high, elegant arc towards the group of Orcs. It sparkled once, twice in the dying rays of the sun as it flew to them. None noticed it until the grenade was a few inches away from an orc in the middle of the party and he knew that it was the end of them.

On impact, the bomb exploded. The blast radius of it incinerated and killed the Orcs that were thirsty for the boys' blood. The explosion sent a heat wave that shattered the windows and overturned several cars in the street. The street lit up with an iridescent orange glow and the intersection exploded in fire.

Aragorn and Legolas were only faintly singed, being out of the direct path of the flames. Aragorn had a small flame creeping along the hem of his ripped shirt because he was nearest to the fire, but he successfully put it out. Legolas pushed him out when the fire had calmed down a bit from chaos.

"Hey, what's the rush?" Aragorn asked, slightly harassed.

"You were just a little too close for me for my comfort," answered the Elf. He gingerly rubbed his ribs and sides. "Your weapons hurt even though they're supposed to be safe."

Aragorn just shrugged apologetically and looked around at the ruined street.

The area that the bomb had hit the hardest was simply a smoking crater in the middle of the street. Bodies were strewn about, charred and twitching, in some cases. Fires were still burning on streetlamps, cars and corpses everywhere in the blast radius. Both boys grimaced at the fetid stench of burning flesh but commented nothing about it.

After a few moment's observation and a comment of the oncoming darkness, they started walking back in the direction of the office, towards Legolas' hidden motorcycle. But, a group of Uruk-Hai, Orcs and a couple of Hunters stood in their way on the road.

"Oh, my god," Legolas muttered wearily. "Do we never get a break from all this crazy shit we call war?"

"No," said Aragorn, just as dully as his friend did. He automatically drew out his sword and prepared himself for battle.

For them, the battle had been short because of a very well timed appearance of a silver Mercedes and a navy blue Mini Cooper.

The two cars had come in separately and barricaded the street so the Dark creatures couldn't escape. Gunfire and golden trail in the air lit up the street and many Orcs and Uruk-Hai fell dead. A sudden surge of magic coming from a white staff poking out of the Mercedes behind Aragorn and Legolas flew towards a Hunter and took it down with a thunderous crash.

"Gandalf! Gimli!" Legolas cried out with relief but was fighting an Uruk-Hai at the same time. "Never did I think that we would see you again so soon!"

"It is a true pity if you truly did not think that we would ever come and join you," said Gimli. "Not since I have so many to catch up with."

A well-aimed bullet from the Mini brought down the last monstrous beast, which was about to crush Aragorn with its giant feet.

"That was a nice shot, Frodo. Well done."

"Thank you, Merry. It's really just all in the absorption of the recoil. Nothing to it."

Aragorn was in a state of disbelief about their light talk amid the war zone but was reminded quickly that they were still Hobbits.

"Do you have the Light?" Gandalf asked Legolas gravely. The Elf produced the phial and showed it to him. "Good," he said softly and said something else over the bottle, too soft for anyone to understand. He added, "Very good."

The Light of Earendil narrowed and pointed to a direction. None of the Fellowship had thought of wandering into that region of the city because there was always a sense of an ominous threat. They suspected that area, but always wanted to avoid it as long as they could. But now, they had no choice.

Aragorn climbed into the driver's seat of his Mercedes while the Hobbits retreated into their Mini Cooper and Legolas went to fetch his BMW motorcycle. Gandalf gently held the phial in his hands, sitting next to Aragorn.

"What happened to you guys back there?" Aragorn asked wildly as he waited for the rest of the Fellowship to start up. "Where's Gollum? And why the hell do the Hobbits have a brand-new Mini Cooper?"

"It is a very interesting story," said Gandalf, "and I will inform you while we travel into the heart of the slums of this city and as we search for Darkness."

--- ---

Sheep: Okay, news time! I don't know if this is bad or good, but I am now nearing the end of this fiction.

I think I was a little unclear last time in my little note. Most of you seem to think that the last chapter is coming next.

NOT TRUE!

The next chapter will still be a regular chapter and is not that near to the end. If anything, it's basically ending off the second bit of The Search For Darkness, like how the Battle at Helm's Deep kind of ends off the movie version of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

So, after this next chapter, I will start on writing the conclusion of TSFD and I will post new material every other chapter I finish writing. Meaning, after I write 2 chapters, I will then post both on so you readers will have something new to read! You'll just have to read less often!


	27. Two Stories for One

While Aragorn drove through the wild streets of the deserted city with the Hobbits in their Mini and Legolas riding alone on his BMW, Gandalf told his story about the events of that day.

---

The warehouse door flew open, not to any of the Fellowship's surprise.

Turret gunfire from the rooftop was heard just as a group of Neos and Orcs poured through the doors. The amount of Dark creatures rivaled the swarm that they had fought in Balin's Tomb in Moria.

This time around, the Hobbits did exceptionally well. Frodo had developed a strong, quick stroke that made Sting leave a bright streak of blue in the air when he fought. Because he attracted so many Orcs, Sam was by his side with his own sword bared and with the same fierceness.

Merry and Pippin were also doing remarkably well, but Merry's skills were expected since Gandalf and Gimli had seen his comfort and grace with his beautiful scythe.

But it was Pippin who really showed his courage in that battle. Out of range of Merry's scythe, he showed no hesitance in slicing open an Orc or decapitating a Neo. All the while, he kept a determined face and kept his fear behind him for none to see.

Gandalf was near the door, killing as many as he could to give the Hobbits a greater chance of survival. Every now and then, he would see one of the Hobbits in trouble with a few particularly nasty Orcs and sent a powerful charge of magic in their direction before going back to using Glamdring and his staff in combination.

All of a sudden, a resounding thud echoed into the room from outside. The turret gunfire still fired, but another thud came. Then came another.

A gigantic Hunter crashed into the warehouse, sending Gandalf sliding across the floor.

Merry ran over and protected the wizard from the remnants of the swarm of orcs and Neos. Every now and then, a lone creature would come in behind the Hunter, but nobody took too much notice.

The Hunter let out a tremendous roar and swung one of its huge arms to swipe away a group of Orcs to get to Frodo and Sam. Each step it took shook the floor violently. Unlike the Hunters that Merry and Pippin had faced in the school, this Hunter could move more like an Uruk-Hai but was still with the terrifying strength of the Hunter breed.

"Come on, Frodo!" Sam yelled as he grabbed Frodo's arm and ran down the building.

Unfortunately, the Hunter stomped towards them, snarling and growling. Each swing of its humongous arms brought down more and more Dark creatures. With each swing, the Hunter came closer and closer to Frodo and Sam.

Soon, the Hunter had the two Hobbits cornered with nowhere to go. It looked down at them with disdain and raised both its arms to crush them like insects under a hammer. Frodo and Sam could see the fierce flame of hatred that burned in its eyes and their eyes widened as it faintly grinned in preparation to bring its mighty fists down upon them.

A huge surge of magical light cam towards them and exploded on the Hunter's gigantic back. It let out a pained roar that shook the entire building.

"No Hobbit or any other being of goodness shall perish through the likes of you," said Gandalf, his staff faintly smoking. He watched Frodo and Sam scramble away from under the monster.

"Come and face me," declared Gandalf, "and show us your true worth."

The Hunter snorted and began stomping towards the White Wizard, face distorted and eyes full of malice. He was standing before it, equipped with nothing but his magical staff and his sword. To the Hunter, they seemed like twigs and the wizard was just another body waiting to the thrashed. Because it was so focused on defeating the wizard, it didn't take notice to the small being a few meters behind him.

Pippin whistled to get its attention. With a smirk, he threw his Hobbit- sword as hard as he could at the Hunter. The sword embedded itself right between the monster's eyes and through its whole head. Sam, who was behind it, saw the blade sticking out.

"Still not dead?" exclaimed Frodo, when the Hunter still stood and glared at Gandalf. "Now, we can't have that."

Holding Sting with its point towards the ground, Frodo ran to the Hunter and jumped onto its back, making it lean slightly forward. The Hunter sluggishly tried to grab him, but he continued to walk up its back unharmed until he came to the base of its neck. Without any hesitation, he drove Sting down the Hunter's neck and leapt off.

The Hunter let out a garbled snarl when Sting impaled its nervous system. Black blood and plasma flooded its respiratory system and slowly drained out of its wound. Its eyes rolled back and it started to spasm. The Hobbits and Gandalf backed away, trying not to get hit.

It crashed to the floor with an echoing thud, landing right at the feet of Gandalf and Gimli. Frodo and Pippin tentatively approached the corpse and coaxed Merry to make sure it was dead. He prodded it with the end of his scythe with great care. When a pool of black blood spilled onto the floor from the Hunter's head, they were satisfied that it was dead.

As Frodo and Pippin worked on getting their blades out of the corpse, Sam and Merry decided to inspect the wrecked room. Gandalf stayed behind to advise Gimli about his sore muscles from using the turret gun.

"Uh, Sam?" Merry said, slightly nervous.

"What?"

"I think you should see this over here."

Sam went over to where Merry was standing. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Merry just looked at him and held up a long piece of rope. "Gollum escaped."

"Oh, no," whispered Sam. "When did he get out? I could've sworn he was here before."

"He was. But look more closely at the rope; it's been cut. That means that the Orcs and Neos were probably sent here to get him back. And that means..."

"They know that we're here," Sam finished for him.

"We have to get out of here, then," said Frodo. He had been listening since Merry picked up the rope. "We can't stay here much longer."

With great effort, Pippin managed to pull out his sword out from between the skull bones of the monster. With a yell and because of the sudden change of balance, he fell back with his sword in hand.

"Wait." He scrambled to sit up and looked around behind him. "Where are Gandalf and Gimli?"

---

The whole Fellowship came to the border to the slums of the city. An unseen but sensed barrier met them. They noticed that two imposing statues had been erected on both sides of the road. All three vehicles came to a stop in front of the gate.

Frodo could almost hear the Nazgul's cry as he looked at the gate. It resembled the gates of the Tower of Angmar so much that he had to take a few shuddering breaths to calm himself. Behind him, in the backseat, he could hear Sam trying to calm down.

"Relax, Frodo," said Pippin beside him. "We've got the others now to help you go through." He patted his shoulder in hopes of comforting him and himself.

Legolas steered his bike to in front of the Mini and directed Pippin down a side street. Pippin glanced down the street and saw the backlights of the Mercedes trailing away.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Pippin drove the Mini down the side street, following Aragorn.

They spent the night in the small, dark alleyway, hoping that nothing would cross their paths. Gandalf continued his story with Aragorn, but there was little of interest to mention after they separated with the Hobbits.

"Gimli and I had tried to pursue Gollum, but we had failed," he sighed. "He was simply nowhere to be found. We wandered the city in your Mercedes until we saw the Hobbits in their Mini Cooper and heard your explosion." He looked at Aragorn and Legolas very sternly.

The two young boys just quietly chuckled nervously. If they weren't in such a nerve-wracking situation, they would have attempted to redeem themselves. But their minds were on other things. They asked about the Hobbits' small adventure.

"Well," Merry started, "we tried to go after Gandalf and Gimli..."

---

The hobbits had run out into the deserted street to search. The sun poured a quiet, subdued light through the city to try to help them. Unfortunately, the sunlight seemed to be a half-hearted attempt, like the sun was tired and dispirited about the city's situation. Despite the sun, the Hobbits continued to search for their companions in hope.

They dared not raise their voices too loud so they wouldn't attract any attention. Their Hobbit feet muffled their footsteps so they could distinctly hear the ringing, sad silence.

"Do you see anything?" Sam asked after a while of walking and searching.

"No," the others replied.

"Not unless you count a lot of pieces of bodies," said Pippin. "They, I would say yes, I have seen something."

"Pippin?" said Frodo.

"Yes?"

"Shh."

"Okay. Sorry."

Frodo slowed his step and suddenly stopped on the sidewalk. He winced and held his left shoulder, where the Morgul blade had pierced him in his previous life. The other Hobbits stopped and looked at him with concern.

"Are you all right?" Sam asked quietly.

With a twinge of pain, he stared down a shadowy alley near them. His sight became sharper as he looked into the darkness and as his shoulder began to ache more. A group of Neos were curled next to the dumpster with their bony ribs slowly rising and falling in sleep.

Carefully, Frodo tried to push his friends down the road without the Neos noticing.

"What are you doing, Frodo? Stop pushing us!" They kept asking him questions and complained, drowning out his attempts to keep them quiet.

The dumpster in the alley loudly rattled and Frodo said to all of them, "Run!"

The Neos skidded out of the alley just as the Hobbits turned the street corner. They chased after the boys, looking for fresh meat.

They boys ran for their lives through downtown, between concrete buildings, under fallen street lamps and over wrecked cars. All four Hobbits were particularly good at weaving through the destruction that had occurred during this sad time because of their smaller frames and their frequent trips out for food.

They came to a high wall that barricaded their way. By the poor construction, they could tell that it was made by the damned humans that were controlled by the Parasites. There was a door in it, hardly big enough for one of them to fit through.

"It's locked!" Sam said angrily after he tried opening it.

Frodo listened carefully and looked behind them. "Somebody better do something quick. Otherwise, we're going to be a nice dinner for the Neos."

Merry looked back and he didn't see or hear anything but he trusted Frodo's word. He backed up until he was about twenty meters from the wall. "It'd be good if you all moved to the side a bit."

The three of them moved aside and anxiously waited.

"Let's hope nothing's waiting for me on the other side," he muttered. He gripped his scythe tightly in one hand and ran as fast as he could towards the wall. Sliding his grip to the very end of the staff, he balanced himself carefully and pole-vaulted over the wall. He soared over but left behind his scythe.

The Neos gave a wild screech when they saw the Hobbits and began sprinting towards them. They bared their claws in attack mode and their teeth shone in the weak sun.

The door flew open beside them and they all ran in, Pippin carrying the scythe. Just as Merry closed the door behind them, they heard a couple Neos slam into it and slump to the ground.

"This wall's probably for Neo control," observed Sam.

"Are you okay, Merry?" Frodo asked as Pippin gave him back his scythe.

"My ass," he moaned, "it's going to be sore for a week." He rubbed it to try to make it feel better.

"Provided we live that long," Frodo said darkly. He felt the pain in his shoulder fade and his sight into the darkness dull. "Let's try to find out where we are and where we're going."

They had been walking for barely ten minutes when Sam noticed something interesting.

"Ooh, cars!"

Quietly, they entered the private car showcase room underground and Sam switched on the lights.

"Oh, I like this."

A dozen shiny, brand-new cars sat in the large room. All the cars were expensive high-class machines in beautifully sleek colors. Jet-black Jaguars, bright red Ferraris and lots of other fantastic cars sat quietly in the showcase room. One glance around the room told them that it was a strictly exclusive showcase for a select group of people.

One side of the room was splattered with blood and a distinct trail leading away and out another way. Just looking at the blood and the shadowy corridor sent chills up their spines.

Sam went directly to one of the Lamborghini's to admire and examine it while Frodo and Pippin inspected a few of the newer models of the BMW roadsters. Merry busied himself at the dealers' desks to find some keys for a car.

"All of these have full tanks, don't they?" observed Frodo. He sat in the driver's seat in a dark metallic green BMW Z3. "This is a nice fit for a Hobbit."

Pippin laughed and confirmed that most of the cars had gas in them.

"Having fun, Sam?" Merry called out to him from the desks.

Sam was enjoying the feel of the plush seats of the Lamborghini's and trying to picture driving it through the city when it was still populated. But it was difficult to remember the city as it had been before the Darkness threw its shadow across the land. He kept seeing Neos and Orcs roaming the streets of his mind. He gave up trying to picture driving through the city and sighed.

"I was trying to," he replied.

Merry gave a sad chuckle because he knew what Sam was thinking about and knew that it had happened to him many times before. He shook the idea out of his head and continued searching through the desks.

The final desk, which was quite larger than the other desks, was the messiest of them all and hardest for Merry to search through. Papers were strewn around, files were stacked in huge piles that threatened to topple over if Merry even touched it and the only thing that was organized was the mug with several pens in it.

While looking around the desk, Merry accidentally brushed his hand across a small panel of fiberglass embedded in the desk. A great mechanical thumping and whirring was heard immediately. The Hobbits glanced around nervously to see what kind of danger was coming.

The far wall trembled and slowly rose up into the ceiling and the rays of mid-afternoon spilled in from the outdoors down a road ramp. They felt the breeze of spring come in and gently play across their faces.

"Well," said Merry, "that's how the cars got in here." He continued looking through the desk. "Now, if we can find the keys, we can get them out of here."

All of a sudden, a crackling sound came from a dark navy blue Mini and its engine came to life. Pippin stood casually at the driver's side and put on an innocently curious expression. "I didn't do anything."

The Mini revved up, being tested for its capability. Merry and Sam stared at the car and the motionless Pippin.

Frodo's head popped up from under the steering wheel and stared back at Merry and Sam's bewildered faces. "What?"

"You know how to hot-wire?" Sam asked incredulously. "You? How the hell did you learn? Where did you learn?"

"Too much time, books and lessons from TV," replied Frodo. "With that combination, one can learn to do anything." He grinned and leaned against to door to mock Sam.

In one fluid move, Pippin opened the door. With a yelp, Frodo toppled out of the car and glared at him from the ground. Pippin responded to that with a peaceful smirk that he knew annoyed Frodo.

"I'm driving," said Pippin as he got into the driver's seat.

"Fine. But I get shotgun!" Frodo raced into the front passenger seat before Sam or Merry knew what had just happened.

Sam sighed with resignation and got into the backseat. Merry pulled out a set of keys from the desk, grabbed his scythe and got into the car. "Even if you're already in the habit, I'll have to ask all passengers to please buckle you seat belts for this trip. Our driver may not keep a stable hand at all times."

"What?" yelped Pippin. He looked at his friends and saw that everyone already had their seat belts on with mildly frightened looks on their faces. "Oh, come on! I don't drive that badly."

Pippin put the chic Mini into gear and pressed the gas pedal. Unfortunately, the car was set in reverse and they all shot backwards.

"Aaah!" Merry, Frodo and Sam screamed.

It was lucky that there weren't a lot of things behind the Mini for it to hit and it was indefinitely lucky that Pippin had good reflexes to stop the car before it crashed into the wall.

"Ah..." Pippin chuckled nervously and switched the gears to drive. "Sorry about that."

As the car rolled onto the ramp leading up to the street, Merry muttered under his breath, "Idiot."

---

"... and we basically drove around downtown looking for Gandalf, Gimli and even Gollum," concluded Sam. "When we heard your bomb going off, we were a few city blocks away and raced to get there. We saw Gandalf and Gimli cut in front of us while we were coming."

"I'm never riding a car with either Pippin or Gandalf behind the wheel ever again," Frodo said bluntly. Many of them agreed with him.

As night drew on, the members of the Fellowship succumbed to a fitful sleep. Legolas stayed awake, summoning as much Elvish magic as he could to keep him awake. He kept a sharp eye out for any disturbances and for the first light of day. Even when dawn came, he wasn't happy because he wasn't sure if he'd live to see another one again.

--- ---


	28. Darkened Thoughts

The morning greeted them with weak, livid light and gloomy clouds overhead, veiling the sun. The dry rustle of old garbage floating by on the street, breaking the silence, woke Aragorn and Gandalf. They found Legolas maintaining his protection over them in a dignified silence that could be shown only by an Elf.

"Good morning," Gandalf greeted them and got up.

"Good morning," said Legolas over his shoulder. "Though there are not many things I foresee in this morn that will be good," he added.

Aragorn was saddened by the hopeless tone in Legolas' voice. Through his eyes, Legolas was still the boy who gave him hope when he thought there was none. To see such a hopeful and exuberant being so dispirited and resigned, even though he was feeling virtually the same depressing feelings, was more than what he could handle. He went up to Legolas and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. They stood in silence for a while, looking out to the barren landscape while Gandalf went to find some food.

"Have you lost hope?" Aragorn asked him after a moment. Legolas looked at him with his deep blue eyes questioning his question. By just looking in his eyes, Aragorn could see all the emotions and thoughts Legolas was having. He knew that his Elvish friend could see into his mind as well. "Have you lost all thought of life?"

Unable to peer into his eyes any longer, Legolas looked down and sighed. "I am afraid that I'm beginning to." He directed his gaze to the depressing image facing the alley. "Our chances of defeating the Darkness and rebuilding the Light do not fare well with us."

Aragorn looked out again to the land before them. On the surface, it was filled with the usual run-down, graffiti-tagged buildings with the expected decay of Darkness. The prolonged exposure to dead, disembodied corpses had somewhat desensitized the Fellowship so the scattered bodies didn't disturb them as much as they used to. The slums of the city were disturbing enough before the Invasion but now they sent chills down the Fellowship's spines and a sense of fear in their hearts. The terrifying thing about the slums was unseen and sensed rather than what met the eye.

"I can feel the Light fading," Legolas said. "I can feel it within me and all around us." He looked back at Aragorn. "Estel, we will not win this fight. It is hopeless."

Aragorn felt another pain in his heart then because he could now see sorrow and despair in the Elf's eyes. He knew that Legolas truly believed in what he was saying if such deep sadness had shown through.

"Legolas," began Aragorn, his comforting hand still on his shoulder, "haven't you learned? Hope is never lost, no matter how bleak and gray the stars may seem. It only feels like the Light is dimming and the Age of Darkness is near because you have given up hope that we will win."

"I have every right to despair. We have no army, no clear strategy because we do not know of war in this life. And I can see no beacon of light to help us see the path on which we tread. Estel, you must understand." Legolas leaned closer to him, blue eyes faintly lined with tears and dark shadows of despair. "We cannot win. We are going to die."

To this, Aragorn could not make a comforting reply. He just continued watching his friend's eyes slowly fill with tears in silence. He continued to think about how truly sad Legolas was and how much it hurt him that he couldn't help the one time Legolas needed it. To be of some minor comfort, he put his head on Legolas' shoulder and sighed.

Legolas exhaled softly and patted the hand on his shoulder in thanks. "Hope is still lost to me and I cry for the loss of so much good life. But, I am still happy that I still have such good friends as you and the others. As long as I am in your company, I will try to search for the hope to fuel my actions against the Darkness."

"You do not need to search, Legolas. _Estel na' oira_."

"_Estel na' oira_," Legolas repeated softly. Like a child seeking solace from a nightmare, he asked, "Do you promise me?"

"Oh, Legolas," he murmured, "_lasto beth lammen: Lle ier nin a'maen mellon_. Of course I promise you. We'll see this to its bitter end together, no matter what happens."

Legolas smiled and his eyes brightened with a stronger, renewed sense of hope. He tilted his head sideways so his would touch Aragorn's in a half-playful headbutt. "_Uireb, mellon_."

"_Uireb_. "

Frodo had woken up a few moments before and observed the sorrow Legolas was feeling. He was touched by the way Aragorn was so committed to supporting his dear friend even though he knew that he felt the same sense of hopelessness, if not to that extent. He was grateful that Aragorn, Sam, the whole Fellowship was so committed to each other and to their mission.

"_Estel na' oira_," he said to himself in reflection. "Hope is eternal. And it truly is, as are the bonds of friendship."

Both Aragorn and Legolas were startled by the sudden noise and whirled around. "Frodo!"

"I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something?"

Legolas scoffed and returned his gaze to the bleak world outside the alleyway. "Aragorn only wishes."

"Yeah, sure," Aragorn responded sarcastically. In addition, he swatted Legolas' head before checking up on the Hobbits and waking them up.

Frodo, who was already awake and was standing by the Mini when he interrupted Legolas and Aragorn, made his way around and over the vehicles to look out at the view with Legolas. He learned that Gandalf was out to get food and quietly stood there.

"Are you okay, Frodo?" Legolas asked concernedly. "You seem a little depressed."

At first, Frodo didn't reply and Legolas left him alone. He stood there, feeling the dead wind play across his face and letting himself get lost in what Legolas had told Aragorn when they thought he and the other Hobbits were still asleep. He didn't say anything, but his large, expressive eyes told his thoughts to Legolas without him looking directly at him.

"You agree with me, then?"

Frodo nodded vaguely. He knew that his thoughts were easy to read so he didn't need to ask how he knew. "I think you're right. But I find it a little harder to keep faith in ourselves."

Legolas chuckled. "It's easy to lose faith and hope in the side that really looks like it's going to lose. But you know what I realized?" Frodo shook his head. "If you don't have faith in yourself or in us, you'll expect to lose and you won't do your best. Next thing you know, your best friend is lying dead in another friend's arms."

Frodo was slightly taken aback by the bitterness of his voice in his last statement. He could see that Legolas' eyes were filled again with sadness and grief, but instead of hopelessness, there was regret.

"Legolas?" Frodo asked timidly. "Is something the matter?"

"Hmm? Oh, no." Legolas made a small smile and brightened. "It's nothing. Just... past issues."

"Legolas, if there's something you need to talk about, you can talk to me anytime. I swear I won't tell anybody."

For a second, Legolas was tempted to talk to him, but decided against it. He knew that his own dark feelings could be used to protect his friends. He knew that each of them had grown to think about each other's safety and condition before their own and would do anything to keep each other safe. Even if it meant facing certain death.

"Thanks, Frodo. But it's okay." He ruffled the Hobbit's curly hair. "You're a really good friend, you know."

"Yes, well, I thank you for the compliment and for messing my hair." In a futile attempt to straighten himself, he ran his hand through his curls but was foiled again by Legolas trying to lighten the mood with some childish roughhousing.

Gandalf eventually came back to the alleyway but with scant rations to eat, to the Hobbits' dismay. After a short breakfast of Gandalf's scavenging and Legolas' lembas, the Company started on their way into the dark areas of the city.

At the beginning of every day, they drove the cars and the bike to a new area of the slums to investigate and made a closer look around on foot. They searched during the day and kept hidden at night. Those who brought their Lorien cloaks shared with the others whenever it was needed to hide. To keep their movements hidden from the Darkness, they kept their guns in their holsters and their swords in their sheaths.

The hours crept by slowly, anxiously. Each building emanated a feeling of foreboding even though nothing but dusty ruins and dried blood were inside. Each street was a lane of death and listlessness, full of old hopes faded away. And, without their knowledge, each step brought them closer to the Darkness.

Hours felt like days. The depressing sceneries told them stories they didn't want to hear. They were stories they didn't want to know, didn't want to think about. But the cursed, damned voices of the past still told them, still forced them to remember.

Merry, Gandalf and Sam were inspecting one particular street that struck a nerve in Merry. They were crossing the street and he had looked down it for curiosity's sake. To him, it was as if time had slowed down and was showing him a home movie from ages past while he stood in the middle of the road.

A blurred bird flew past his eyes, transparent at first but growing solid with each movement it made through the air. The laughter of a child reached his ears, happy and carefree, faint but growing stronger. A soccer ball rolled onto the street, followed by several kids, all laughing and ready to play. As they ran down the street like time was running at half its speed, the kids spread their innocence and ignorance of any darkness of the world.

Merry looked at the street and took a deep sigh. The trees of the street had leaves on them again; the cars were still intact and shining cheerfully at him in the sun. Just down the street, a couple and their neighbors joyfully greeted the group of children and watched them play in the street. Beautiful shafts of sunlight poured into the neighborhood and washed away any dark thoughts any of them could have had.

All of a sudden, time stopped. All of them could feel it. The bubble of innocence was popped. The luxury of passive contentment and ignorance was shattered. They didn't just feel it; they knew it in their hearts.

Merry watched the sky grow dim and dark clouds roll in. He watched the sun blacken as, one by one, the faces of tranquility evaporated. The bodies crumbled and the leaves turned brown and fell. A single, immaculate boy was left holding the ball and looking around with tears streaming down his face.

"Mama!" the boy cried out. His voice was slow and distorted, but his sadness and desperation were still there. "Mama!"

But, the pure, young boy also disappeared and crumbled. An everlasting darkness settled in, feasting on the despondent souls of the lost and the pain of the separation of loved ones. The ball he was holding bounced and rolled away from where its owner was last seen.

It rolled and rolled only to come to a stop at Merry's feet. He looked at it and he could almost feel and see all the memories that the ball had been for the little boy. He sensed the happiness and sadness, all the victories and losses, all the tears and pain. But then he thought to himself: Are these the lost memories of the boy or are they the lost memories of myself?

He moved his foot to kick the ball, but he hit nothing but air. The soccer ball disappeared before his eyes and the real world swam back to his mind. Time started again at its regular speed. He looked at the forgotten neighborhood and its lost memories that mingled with his own.

Did it matter if the memories of family and security were the boy's or his? Did it matter whose souls were ruthlessly taken away against their own will? Did any of that matter?

"None of it matters," whispered Merry. He grieved for the boy and his family and for his own. "Souls were stolen and the blood of the innocent was spilled. That's all that matters to me."

Answering to Sam's call, he ran to catch up with him and Gandalf. A new flame had appeared in Merry's heart and he secretly vowed, on behalf of the lost souls, that he would never give up and that he would fight to the bitter end, no matter what became of him.

As that day wore on, each empty, silent, obsolete street they came to reminded Merry of the past. Each time he remembered, his heart renewed his vow. He glanced at Sam once and saw a pained look on his face as they looked down the street. He asked what were his thoughts.

"How sad this place feels," replied Sam. "These people had such high hopes for each other and they were taken away from them against their will. Now, because of the Darkness, those dreams will never come true."

They walked behind Gandalf in silence for a moment, listening to the soundless tales of the area.

"The Darkness won't get away with this," said Merry with quiet determination. "As Galadriel said before, we're the Holders of Light, the ones who represent everything that's good and pure in this world. We won't let the Darkness prevail."

Sam smiled in hope that Merry's words would be true. He felt neither brave or strong but he felt the sadness in the world and he knew he was one of the few who could put an end to it. "The Darkness won't last."

Suddenly, Sam jumped, making Merry jump and let out a small shriek. He pulled out his vibrating cell phone from his pocket. "Holy fuck," he said softly before picking it up. "Scared the shit out of me."

"Same here," said Merry, "and I'm not even the one carrying it."

Sam picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Sam? Hey, the cells still work."

"Frodo! What news?"

"Uh... It depends on how you look at it, really." He paused to think about how to tell him but decided that the line could break anytime. "Just come to Davisville Station. All of us need to know about this."

"All right. We'll see you there." Sam hung up and relayed the message to Merry and Gandalf. They immediately made their way back to the Mini.

"Where are we going, again?" Merry asked.

"Davisville Station," said Sam.

"Davisville," Gandalf said heavily. "This is certainly news we will not soon forget."

--- ---

_Lle ier nin a'maen mellon _ You are my beloved friend.

_Uireb _Eternally.

Sheep: Sorry to all of you readers who don't like to read fluffy things, but I just needed to show how depressing and hopeless it must've seemed to any of them. Since Legolas was staying up all night with no one but his thoughts to talk to, I figured why not?


	29. Through The Tunnels

In separate vehicles, the Fellowship arrived at the Davisville subway station. Outside, Legolas and Frodo were waiting. Legolas was sitting on the ledge, cleaning his knives and arrowheads that needed it. Frodo was standing on it beside Legolas and looking out for their Company. He was anxious for all of them to arrive safely and it was clearly shown.

"Are they here yet?" Legolas asked him a few moments before. His eyes were down, looking at his weapons. They were flecked with blood from recent and past battles and he forgot to clean them until then. Now, his knives shone a brilliant silver but he was having difficulty cleaning the engravings.

Frodo's eyes scanned the streets again but saw no movement except the swaying of the trees and heard nothing but the wind in his ears. "No. There's no sign of them anywhere."

"They'll come soon." He twirled his knives rapidly and slid them into their sheaths on his back in one fluid movement. "I can hear them coming."

After a few minutes, Frodo could also hear the hum of a car engine steadily growing louder. It gradually made its way to the station, approaching from their left. Just before the car came to view, he asked, "Mercedes or Mini? And don't look; just listen."

"Mini," replied Legolas, head still down and arrow in hand. "The pitch is too high for the Mercedes."

Sure enough, the Mini's signature headlights came down the road. With Sam behind the wheel, the car went into an adjacent parking lot.

"Are you ever wrong?" Frodo asked Legolas while they waited for the passengers to come up to them.

"Nope. Not when it comes to cars and my senses." He finished the cleaning and adjusting his arrows as Frodo welcomed Sam, Merry and Gandalf.

"You're not going to tell us why we're here, are you?" Sam asked Frodo after a glance at him.

"No. Legolas and I agreed that it's best if we don't repeat ourselves. Creatures, spies of the enemy might be listening."

And, so, they waited. Merry hopped up onto the ledge on one side of Legolas as Gandalf sat on the other side, between him and Frodo. Sam stood next to his master, but on the ground and also kept an eye and an ear out for the rest of the Fellowship.

Merry was facing the station and was looking at the marred station. On first glance, it looked like it could collapse at any moment because it was completely thrashed. The tiles on the floor were ripped up, revealing the bare cement of the foundation. Shattered glass and clumps of concrete littered the ground as the metal turnstiles sat solitarily in the station, beaten, slashed and twisted into mangled heaps of scrap metal. The fluorescent lights above crackled and flickered with shorting electricity. The whole station reeked with the fetor of the rampaged, destroyed past.

"Well, master Hobbit," Gandalf said to him casually, "what do you see? What do you feel?"

"I see," he began, trying to free his mind from the jam it was in, "I see a wreck. Total destruction but for the walls and the skeleton. The inside's completely ripped up and thrown around."

"What else do you see?"

Merry was a little confused. He had already told Gandalf what he had seen and there was nothing more. He looked inside again, more carefully, but still saw nothing but the debris. But he looked again and realized something. "It's empty. And stale. Cold, too."

"Like the hearts of Orcs, Uruk-Hai, Neos and almost all Dark minions alike. If you had any pity for these creatures in a battle, dispense of it quickly."

"But... they don't know what they're doing. They honestly don't know any better, Gandalf, sir," said Sam. "Are you going to hold that against them? Something they can't control?"

"They were not meant to be created and roam this earth in this way. But it is true that they have no fault for being what they are, whether they are aware of it or not. All the more reason to vanquish the Darkness for causing so much misery and pain. The fact remains that a quick, merciful death would be the best fate any of us can give them."

"A swift death for those who aren't meant to be alive at this point?" Legolas said. "We can only hope. The Darkness is not so merciful."

Before anyone could reply to that, the silver Mercedes cam down the road like a prowling cat and slid into an inconspicuous parking spot. Aragorn, Gimli and Pippin climbed out and crossed the street to meet them. Naturally, Pippin skateboarded across the road and flipped his skateboard on the sidewalk before he actually got to the others.

"Does that skateboard actually come in handy?" Merry asked.

"More often than not," replied Gimli. "It was because of him and that skateboard that we got out of a lot of traps and trouble."

"Plus, you wouldn't believe how cool it is to do tricks all over the place with no one to tell you off," Pippin said excitedly with a grin. "But then, there's no one to really gloat to."

"Except us," said Aragorn. "That kid can do some pretty neat tricks." Pippin beamed at the compliment.

Legolas got up from the stone ledge and called for everyone's attention. He waved his hand to the station behind him. "What do you notice about this station? Minus the fact that it's empty, destroyed and more or less desolate."

"There are a lot of scratch marks," said Gimli, after a small pause. "On the walls, floors... everywhere."

"Right," said Frodo, "that's what we noticed when we saw this at first, too. But when we went inside," he said while walking into the station with Legolas, "we noticed something else. Something that was a little more interesting than a run-down subway station."

With their curiosity thoroughly piqued, the rest of the Fellowship followed them in. The inside of the station was far worse than what they had seen from the outside. Now that they were within the infrastructure, they saw that parts of the ceiling had fallen through and the building was hung open and left to rot, like an infected wound.

"Look carefully at the tracks and the slash marks," instructed Frodo. "Do you see anything peculiar?"

"They're all heading out of the building," Aragorn said, starting to understand the full weight of this discovery. "Unlike all the other buildings, these are exiting rather than entering. So that means..."

"We must go underground, through the tunnels," finished Legolas. "Right to where the Darkness lurks."

Naturally, they made their way downstairs to the tracks. But, halfway through the station, they found that their way was blocked by a cascade of rocks from the ceiling and walls around them. There was no way through and Aragorn was reluctant to use an explosive because of the tremendous noise and shockwaves it makes. So, they spread out around the area to find another way into the subway.

Sam had walked a distance away from the station but was still above the tracks. He saw a crevice in the ground ahead of him so he went to investigate. "Uh, Mister Frodo? Wouldn't this count as an opening to the underground?"

Frodo came up behind him and looked into the crevice. He winced as the pain in his shoulder flared up again. His gaze into the darkness sharpened and he could see the metal tracks below winking in very dim light. "I would definitely say so, Sam."

As Sam called to the others about the crevice, Frodo gingerly rubbed his shoulder and jumped down onto the rocks beneath him until he reached the tracks. His eyes adjusted accordingly to the gloom as they swept around the area for a better look.

Like most city dwellers, Frodo was thoroughly familiar with the subway and its trains. But he didn't quite realize how dreadfully big the tunnels were. Just one side of the subway was about ten feet wide and around fifteen feet tall. The underground tunnels were always dark and often cold, but they were filled with an unearthly presence now. The lights that lined the higher regions of the tunnels were dim and scarce, showing nothing but shadows.

Frodo's eyes pierced the darkness and quickly assessed that the tunnels were deserted. He groaned and clutched his left shoulder. It was becoming a dull pain that throbbed frequently.

The rocks behind him clattered and he saw the rest of his fellow Hobbits climbing down, followed by Gimli, Legolas, Aragorn and Gandalf.

"The shadows cling to us like incessant swarms of flies," grumbled Gimli. "Can someone do something about this?"

"I expected an honorable Dwarf such as yourself to enjoy the underground world," said Gandalf. He grinned at Gimli's disgusted face at his surroundings and produced a small, raw crystal. He carefully placed it in the encasing at the top of his staff. "But, if you wish..."

The crystal glowed with a soft, white light. Pippin realized that it served as a filter for the pure light that Gandalf usually produced so that they could travel safely through the tunnels. In the gentle light, he could see the broken, cracked tracks, the crumbling pillars and the walls that looked like they could fall apart at any minute.

"All the marks on the walls head towards the cave-in," Aragorn said after a moment's observation. "So this way's the right direction."

The dark gloom of the tunnels was pierced only by the shimmering glow of Gandalf's staff. The darkness was penetrated for only a few meters before it swallowed up the pure light. The flickering guide lights somberly hanging high on the sides of the walls offered neither comfort nor guidance to the Fellowship. Mice, rats and spiders crept around their ankles and shook their nerves as they made their way towards the Darkness' lair.

Frodo's shoulder ached frequently now that they were so close to the heart of evil. His eyesight and hearing sharpened greatly when his shoulder hurt and he often warned his companions of the many obstacles that were in their path.

"Are we close, Frodo?" Legolas asked, his voice echoing in the cavernous tunnels. He strategically and carefully made his way around the debris on the tracks through a small bend to follow Frodo when he made no reply. "Frodo?" Merry and Pippin followed him around the bend.

The three of them saw Frodo standing in the middle of the track and felt the stale wind blowing through their hair. Their eyes adjusted to the sudden light and they all said in unison, "Whoa."

They were standing at one end of a bridge that hung over a river valley that connected to a park. They could see right through the steel grate floor to the dry valley and murky river hundreds of feet below. Around them were huge girders of blackened metal, dirtied by dust, blood and time. The dead wind whistled through the small cracks between the metal like the restless shrieks of the damned.

Frodo stared straight ahead right into the black chasm of the end of the bridge where the tunnel continued the train tracks. He heard the rest of the Fellowship arrive behind him and their gasps of surprise. Like the others, he thought that the bridge was incredibly long and could see many things that could go horribly wrong. But, without a single word, he started down the bridge with his friends close behind.

The bridge creaked and groaned from the new weight and months of misuse and attacks. Pipes that ran between the subway rails and the street above had cracks in them and were slowly dripping water onto the grated floor. Spiders, cockroaches and other bugs crept along between the pipes, where there was salvation from the restless wind.

Gimli, who was walking alongside Aragorn and behind Gandalf, had just reached the halfway point when he felt a small rumble beneath his feet through the bridge. "Aragorn. Tell me you felt the bridge shudder." He stopped to see if the bridge would shake again.

Aragorn stopped as well and paused. "No, I do not feel such a thing. Are you sure you--" He was cut off by another, stronger vibration of the bridge that he felt, too.

This time, Gandalf and Legolas felt the shudder as well and stopped with curiosity. The Elf nudged the Hobbits in front of him and stopped them. The whole Fellowship stood still on the bridge, waiting. What they were waiting for, they didn't know. They just knew that they were waiting for something.

As if in anticipation, the wind seemed to die down and silence pressed against their ears. Another heavy pound shook the bridge so violently that some of them stumbled and fell. A deep, terrifying roar echoed from the street above through the valley.

The Hobbits had more difficulty hiding their fear than the warriors because of their natures and started backing towards the tunnels. Their eyes darted everywhere and scared gasps were emitted as they tripped over their feet or the tracks as they walked backwards.

With a huge crash, a chunk of the street fell to the subway tracks. Pieces of concrete and metal flew everywhere and the stench of a Hunter flooded their noses. Aragorn and Gimli were blown off their feet by the sudden appearance of the gigantic monster. They fell and rolled across the tracks because of the sheer force the Hunter created.

"Aaahh!" Gimli had rolled too much and almost fell down into the valley. He managed to catch the ledge before he rolled off. "Somebody help!"

Aragorn and Gandalf kept the creature away while Legolas darted forward and hoisted the Dwarf back on the bridge as the Hunter roared in rage and pain from the attacks. The bridge itself kept vibrating and shaking ominously because of the Hunter's retaliations.

"It's all this heavy armor," grumbled Gimli. "Made me roll too much."

"Just like a Dwarf to blame faults on something else," Legolas sighed jokingly before getting into a good position to release a few well-aimed arrows. He was quickly followed by Gimli and his mighty axe.

The four Hobbits were torn between two very strong impulses. One was the urge to help their comrades who needed their help fighting the Hunter. The other was the urgent feeling of running to the end of the bridge because of the unnerving heights and the creaking of the metal beams.

The Hunter slammed down one of its gigantic fists onto the tracks, narrowly missing Aragorn and Gandalf. The two of them were about to attack when a few bolts burst from their places and the whole bridge shuddered. Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli and Legolas all gave a yell when the metal floor jolted down.

"It's falling apart!" Frodo yelled down to them. "We've got to get out!" He and his fellow Hobbits were already scurrying backwards to the tunnels.

"Frodo is right!" shouted Gandalf over the din. "We must get off the bridge!"

The Three Hunters nodded. Aragorn and Gimli each got in one more attack on the Hunter before turning their backs on it and running with Gandalf to the tunnels. Legolas, however, stayed back to get a few more shots in. He slashed the Hunter with one of his knives and shot it with one of his diamond-coated arrows before deciding to run to the tunnel.

The Hunter let out a raged cry and stomped towards the Fellowship, shaking the whole bridge on the way. More bolts burst from the girders and threatened to destroy the bridge. But, it was a dozen meters away from them and the bridge still didn't collapse on it.

Aragorn slowed down a small distance before entering the tunnel when he noticed the Hunter wasn't going to die by the natural destruction of the bridge. He started to quickly assemble one of his bombs he carried in his chest pocket.

"Aragorn!" Legolas called to him while running as fast as he could to the tunnels. He grabbed his arm and started leading him to the tunnels urgently. "Run and work! Run and work!"

Just as they entered the gloom of the tunnels, he finished his bomb and set it with the flick of a finger.

"Deeper!" commanded Gandalf. "Get deeper into the tunnels!" All except Aragorn and Legolas dashed down the unused tracks underground.

Aragorn threw his grenade as hard as he could at the Hunter and was quickly dragged and thrown into the tunnel by Legolas.

The bomb shot towards the Hunter with its incredible power of destruction. The Hunter was quick enough to see it and try to defend itself from it but had no definite understanding of what it was. In a futile attempt to stop the grenade, it swung out its cruel claws and slashed the bomb.

Even before the claw could slice halfway through the bomb, it fell to the beast's feet and exploded. From a distance of less than ten meters away from the Fellowship, a red and orange fireball ignited.

The Hunter was instantaneously and virtually burned to a crisp. The shockwave that was the result of the explosion shook the area in its radius violently and made all the bolts shoot out of their places. In a fraction of a split second, the sound caught up with the explosion.

That end of the bridge crumbled in a spectacular blaze of fire, metal and concrete. The street above cracked and rumbled as the structure collapsed and fell to the valley below in pieces. In a chain reaction, most of the rest of the bridge, along with the street and creatures on it, crumbled and fell with the fireball.

Inside the tunnel, rocks fell from the ceiling but the whole thing generally held up on itself. Huge boulders from the walls fell and rolled into the tracks.

Just as the explosion occurred, Pippin was already deep into the tunnel. He was thrown into the wall by the shockwave and hit his head onto a particularly hard and bumpy rock. He struggled to stay awake and tried to get up but failed.

In that small period of time, he heard rocks crumbling and echoing around him and one of his friends scream in horrible pain.

But, before he could do anything, everything went black.

--- ---


	30. Injury to Darkness

--- --- 

"Hey, I think he's waking up."

Pippin groaned softly and slowly opened his eyes. The worried faces of Frodo, Gimli, Merry and Gandalf swam before his eyes. Everyone was scratched, dirty and, in Gimli's case, partially covered in blood and bandages.

"How are you feeling, Pip?" Merry asked gently. "Like shit?"

He nodded. Raising his hand to his face, he felt the bandages bound tightly around his head and winced. "What happened? Is everyone okay?"

Gandalf, Gimli and Frodo looked at each other nervously. Gimli and Frodo bit their lips while Gandalf continued a worried, pitying look.

"What happened?" demanded Pippin as he sat up quickly, making everyone jolt with surprise and Merry exclaim in exasperation, "Pippin! Stay down."

"Is someone hurt?" he demanded persistently again. "Who is it? Who yelled when the tunnel caved in?"

Again, they looked at each other sadly for a moment. Gandalf was the one who finally raised his arm and directed Pippin's gaze down the tunnel, towards the rock-strewn, caved-in entrance.

In the soft light of the wizard's staff were Aragorn, Sam and Legolas. Red blood was spilling everywhere from their direction but Pippin couldn't see clearly who was injured. Without warning, he got up and ran to them. He was shocked when he saw what was before his eyes.

Legolas was sitting on a boulder with his leg propped up on a smaller rock. His right leg had a huge horizontal gash like it was torn open with a blade. He had the look of tremendous pain written across his fair Elvish face. This was the first time Pippin actually saw his Elf-friend in any kind of true physical pain and it made him sad.

"You're really lucky it's only this shallow, Legolas," Aragorn said softly, who was helping his friend bandage up. His expression and tone of voice showed how hard it was for him to see Legolas in so much pain.

"Only?" Legolas echoed, his voice strained from keeping back his yells. "What the fuck do you mean, 'only'? You try having your leg ripped open by your own goddamned arrow!"

Neither Aragorn nor Sam could reply to that and both continued bandaging the Elf's injured leg in silence.

Legolas' ragged breathing echoed loudly in the dark tunnels and just covered the constant dripping sound of his own blood onto the ground. He knew that, as an Elf, he would heal easily and quickly but still had a considerable amount of pain to endure, especially since they were traveling on foot.

"How did you get that?" Pippin asked timidly.

He gasped in pain when a fresh surge of agony shot up his leg. Seeing as he wasn't in any shape to tell stories, Aragorn explained for him. "Before the explosion, Legolas had shot the Hunter with one of his diamond-tipped arrows."

"And, of course, you know that diamond is, like, the strongest substance in the world," interjected Sam. "High melting point, too, remember?"

"Thanks for reminding me how fucking sharp diamonds can be," Legolas said sarcastically through his teeth. It was obvious from his swearing and dark tone of voice that he wasn't a particularly happy Elf.

"Anyway, when I threw the bomb at the Hunter, Legolas threw me into the tunnels. That left him wide open to the explosion. He was closest to the entrance than anyone here when the bomb went off. The arrow he shot, being diamond-tipped and probably coated with the rock, was dislodged and was sent flying back into the tunnel because of the shockwave."

"So it was all a matter of circumstance?" Pippin said slowly.

"Actually," Sam said, "if he hadn't thrown Aragorn deeper in the caves, the arrow would've killed him because it was around the area of his chest at the time." He saw Pippin's bluntly confused face and pointed up to the arrow sticking through the solid rock above them. "That's what we're guessing, at least."

Pippin continued his blank expression towards Sam. As plainly as he could, he said, "Aragorn and Legolas told you that, didn't they?"

"Yeah."

Aragorn finished bandaging Legolas' leg with his bloodstained, dirty hands. In the light of the wizard's staff, he could see the paleness of his friend's face. "Can you get up? Do you need any help?"

"Some help would be nice," Legolas said softly and through gritted teeth. He slowly got up, leaning heavily on his left leg, and held on tightly to Aragorn's shoulder. He struggled to bite back his screams as the two of them slowly made their way down the slanting tunnel. Each small step brought sharp pains pulsating from his leg.

Gandalf retrieved his staff and led the Fellowship further into the tunnels. They had to stop shortly after because they could tell that a few members couldn't go much further without a good, long rest.

They settled down in a niche they found to be relatively clean and uninhabited. There, they changed the blood-soaked bandages and stayed for the night to refresh themselves.

It was long after most of the Fellowship had fallen asleep when Legolas had decided to check his wounds by the soft light of the wizard. As he hobbled towards the staff, he accidentally roused Frodo from his light sleep.

"Legolas?" he mumbled drowsily. He sat up and rubbed the last remnants of sleep out of his eyes. "Are you okay?"

"What do you think?" he replied dryly. To show no hard feelings, he gave a small smile to Frodo, who returned a weak grin and went to his side.

Frodo watched in silence as Legolas unwrapped the bandages on his leg. He winced as he gingerly took the last layer of bandages directly off the wound. He groaned softly when he shifted positions to shed better light on the gash.

"Oh, ew," Frodo said quietly. The wound was still partially bleeding but it was already well on its way to a recovery. He could see the torn layers of the Elven leg muscle and was watching the blood pump out slowly. Dried blood covered Legolas' leg and pants and caked over his gash, making it look several times worse than it already was.

"It's looking pretty good, don't you think?" Legolas said calmly. He kept his voice soft to not wake the others and rouse suspicion in the tunnels.

Frodo stared at him. "It depends on your perspective, really. I think we're going to be stuck here for a while until you can walk and run without killing yourself or ripping your leg off." He added, "Don't you even suggest that we leave without you, either! You know that we can't do that."

"Actually, you can but I know that you guys won't. Besides, you won't have to stay here for very long." He poked the area around his gash without wincing or feeling too much pain. "This'll heal pretty well in a few days. Elvish blood heals very quickly."

Frodo nodded in understanding and helped Legolas rewrap his leg quietly. As he did so, he began to let his thoughts roam freely.

Legolas bit his lip and smacked his hand over Frodo's head. He hissed, "Don't wrap it so goddamned tight! You're trying NOT to cut off my circulation!"

He apologized and watched his friend wrap his leg on his own. He knew that he should sleep, but knew he couldn't sleep because of the buzzing thoughts that his mind and heart were telling him. He sunk down to ground level, gave his thoughts free rein of himself and put his head on Legolas' good leg.

Legolas himself finished the bandaging himself and looked at Frodo's head resting on his leg. In the dull white light, he could see the hobbit's every eyelash and the way they moved told him that Frodo was trying to resolve something in his heart. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the packet of lembas he always carried around and offered a piece to Frodo.

"Lembas for your thoughts?" he asked with his palm open with the Elven bread near Frodo's face.

"Thanks." He munched slowly on his piece of the dry bread. "I'm not sure if my thoughts are worth such a fine prize."

"Any thought that comforts dark feelings or feeds them are always worth at least a piece of lembas."

He chuckled. "You always have something to say against whatever anyone says, Legolas. Do you ever have nothing to say back?"

"Only when it is pointless to reply or when I can refrain myself from speaking. Alas, the days when I had centuries of self-control at my disposal are long gone. I cannot stop myself sometimes from saying stupid things."

"Undoubtedly the reason why you and Aragorn were always up to some kind of mischief, am I right?"

"No, that is our own nature."

"Ah." He let a small pause of silence come between him and Legolas before continuing his thoughts. "You do not try to say something when you have nothing to say, right?"

Legolas nodded in agreement. "Do you do that?"

"No. Well, not on my own will, anyway. I just wonder, why do we fight when we have little to fight with and almost nothing to fight for?"

The Elf prince said nothing and the Hobbit continued, careful to keep his voice down.

"I've been wondering lately about what we're really fighting for. Everywhere we go, I can only see destruction and the remnants of a greedy past. Death, ruins and lost hope are what meets the eye when we scoured the city for the entry to the Darkness.

"Change is inevitable, right?" He looked up to meet his eyes with Legolas'. He looked deep into those eyes that still had the vivacity of the lost species of Elves in the looming Darkness. "How can we know when change is needed? Our world is filled with filth, greed and corruption of power. How do we know that the Age of Darkness isn't beginning now?

"How the hell do we know that we're fighting for the good side?" he asked despairingly.

At first, Legolas had no true answer because he had asked those questions to the wind before they entered the slums. He knew the overwhelming feeling of lost hope and facing almost certain doom. Doubt of the quality of life had gone through his mind then, too. But he remembered what had happened at that time as well, when Aragorn and Frodo were there.

"We know because we know the joys of companionship," Legolas said plainly. "We know the feeling of brotherhood and friendship. We know the feeling of all levels of love. Especially the level of close friendship," he added as he ruffled the hair of the Hobbit's head on his leg.

"Change is inevitable," he continued, "but Fate sometimes leaves the power of change in the hands of a few. What they do can ultimately govern the future of thousands, maybe millions, of lives and generations."

"So you believe that we have that power?"

Legolas was absent-mindedly petting and playing with Frodo's soft curls while they were talking. Since neither boy said anything to stop it, he continued when he realized it. It was somehow comforting to feel the gentle touch of a friend in such a dark environment. As he thought about his beliefs, he distractedly ran his long, slender fingers through Frodo's waves.

"Yes," he finally answered. "I do. Why else would we be here instead of resting peacefully with the dead world of Middle-Earth? I know that I'm fighting so the past can rest in peace. So what are you fighting for, Frodo?"

Only a deep, rhythmic breathing met his ears. "Frodo?" He gently shook the Hobbit's shoulder and figured that he fell asleep on his leg. Instead of waking Frodo, he tried to sit comfortably without disturbing him.

"Friendship," mumbled Frodo, his eyes still shut, "and goodness. But, I think I'm fighting mostly for us. The Fellowship." With that, he went and sunk into a deep sleep, still on Legolas' knee.

Legolas smiled and resigned himself as Frodo's pillow. He ran his hand through the Hobbit's dark hair once more before taking the role of the injured watchman in the darkness once again.

---

Smeagol was watching a Parasite float slowly in a large jar filled with a sick-looking solution when an Uruk-Hai came knocking at the laboratory door.

"Who is it, precious?" sang Smeagol while taunting the Parasite with his fingertip.

"Salatz," growled the Uruk-Hai. "I have urgent news for the Dark Master."

"The Precious Master isn't here," hissed Gollum as he hobbled on all fours to the door and opened it. "But he will be. Perhaps nasty Uruks can have some patience and waits for precious Master. Yesss."

Salatz gave Gollum a loud snarl but entered anyway. He settled himself into one of the rough rock and metal chairs in the lab while Gollum hopped onto one of the stools nearby the lab table to inspect the potions brewing.

"We wonders what kind of newsies the Uruk-Hai has for the Master," said Gollum. "Would it be good? Or bad?"

"None of your business, wretch."

"Perhaps the newsies is about the Hobbitses!"

Salatz threw him a deathly glare that spoke more than it intended it to. "Perhaps."

"Are they... dead?" Gollum asked quietly with a small glimmer of hope showing through narrow eyelids. The hope that he had that the Hobbits were dead was a half-hope that confused him. After all, if they were dead, how could he hear them scream in pain and torture?

Salatz said nothing in reply and averted his eyes away from Gollum. He wouldn't reply to the numerous questions that Gollum bombarded him with until the Dark Master came into the room.

To anything that didn't have a large quantity of Darkness in their bodies, the room itself seemed to freeze and die when the Master entered. The long, concealing black cloak the Master wore now seemed to be alive with Darkness and the hem of it looked as if it was dancing with black flames. Like usual, the hood of the cloak was drawn past the Master's face and showed nothing that was underneath.

"Master!" Salatz jumped and bowed deeply. "I have news for you from the boundary of the Interior."

The Dark Master waited for the news, silent and still.

"The Fellowship of Light has destroyed the Taylor Creek Bridge," he reported quickly. It was very rare that the presence of the Dark Master didn't intimidate its minions. "They also killed one of the more developed Hunters."

A moment of tense silence passed. The walls of the Lair weren't tinted deep red with paint. Nor was it tinted for no reason. Salatz was trying very hard not to shake.

"Very well." The Master beckoned Gollum to follow and dismissed Salatz, who breathed a small sigh of relief.

"So the Fellowship is at our doorstep," drawled the Master. "Very interesting news." He led Gollum through the underground halls with eerie silence and swiftness. "Do you not think so, Gollum?"

"Yesss," he agreed. "Interesting to know that the nasty Hobbitses with their nasty Fellowship is coming."

"Do you know what their coming means, Gollum?"

"What it means?" Gollum repeated. "We do not know what this means. Does it means we gets to... to play?"

The Master gave a small sound of amusement. It stopped at an elegantly carved door that looked as if it was scratched and beaten severely since it was made. A mysterious feeling emanated from beyond the door.

"Oh, we will get to play," the Master said evilly. He opened the creaky door and let Gollum peer inside. Smeagol took some control in their minds and looked in as well.

The room was completely dark except for a single, dull light source in the middle of the ceiling that created a dim circle of light that vaguely showed the room's only occupant. The being was still, sitting limply and noiselessly on the bare chair. Faint sparkles reflecting the dead light came from its wrists and ankles and just showed the victim's incarceration of chains. The being's head was down, its chin to its chest, oblivious to its visitors.

"We'll play," whispered the Master maliciously, "and we'll have fun. Won't we, my pet?"

The being raised its head slowly, enough to reveal two empty eyes. A fiendish smile was pulled across its face.

"Of course..."

--- ---


	31. Door In the Walls

--- ---

The little niche in the subway was the Fellowship's base camp for the next couple weeks while they recovered from their wounds. Legolas was the one who usually stayed in the general vicinity while a small group of his friends went to the surface through a nearby station to retrieve necessities. When he was forced to sit still, the near-silence almost drove him crazy.

"Stop fidgeting, Legolas!" scolded Gandalf. He was trying to unbind the Elf's leg but he was refusing to be still for more than a few seconds.

"I can't!" cried Legolas with a tone of childlike impatience. "I want to run, Gandalf. Can I run, please? Please, Gandalf? Please, please, please?"

"Only once we see that your bandages are properly off and -- stay still, you impetuous Elf! -- and we see that you can walk without hurting yourself again. Only then will I allow you to run."

Legolas stayed as still as he could while the white bandages fell from his leg. As soon as all the gauze was off, he jumped up and did a quick sprint from one side of the tunnel to the other and back. With a huge grin, he slid and sat cross-legged in front of Gandalf.

Gandalf gave him a reprimanding glare and ordered the young Elf to let him check the wound area. He rolled his eyes, stretched out his leg and let Gandalf inspect the wound through the tear of his pant leg.

In a matter of weeks, the wound had completely healed. All that was left was a large, pale scar that was barely visible. The leg muscles were working as well as they were before they were torn. It was obvious that, despite his reincarnation and vast time difference, Legolas still possessed enough Elvish blood and spirit in him to heal that much quicker than other mortals.

"Can I go now, sir?" said Legolas, adopting his previous mannerism of a student in Gandalf's high school class.

"Yes, yes," sighed the elderly wizard, "you may go, Mr. Grayfield." He got up with Legolas' help and took his staff in hand. "Just one more thing."

"Hmm? What's that?"

Gandalf sharply brought his staff down and rapped Legolas over the head. "Learn to control yourself, young Legolas! You should know by now not to disobey a teacher, especially a history teacher."

"Yes, sir," Legolas said obediently while he rubbed his head.

Gimli, who was taking a small nap and was woken up by Legolas' restlessness, jumped onto his friend's back, sending him tottering forward. Not just because his quiver, bow, knives and recovered cloak were in the way, Legolas had a hard time keeping the Dwarf on his back.

"God, Gimli! You weigh a ton!" With that, he threw the Dwarf over his shoulder.

In the light of Legolas' complete recovery, the whole Fellowship continued on their way through the dark tunnels. Once again, they were following the light of Gandalf's staff. They passed many stations, all filled with crumbling rocks, broken platforms and twisted pieces of metal and debris.

They slowly made their way through the cracked subway towards the Darkness. Because they wanted the element of surprise, the Fellowship took their time in their trek through the tunnels. Whenever they met with Dark creatures, they would more often hide rather than to stand and fight. Each sound in the tunnels would echo for several stations and decrease their chance of taking the heart of Darkness by surprise.

"This is strange," Aragorn said quietly one day.

"Aside from the fact that you're talking to a wall?" cracked Pippin. Gimli, who was nearby, chuckled. The Fellowship was settled for a break.

Aragorn scowled at him. "If I had something to throw at you without hurting you, I would, Pip."

"That's always nice to know," he replied cheerfully.

"Anyway," continued Aragorn with a small grin, "what's strange is that these marks, from what I've seen, are completely opposite from what was the usual. It's heading the same direction as we are going."

"The same direction as we're going?" echoed Gimli. "You mean we passed it?"

"Apparently."

"But we haven't passed anything but solid rock," said Pippin.

"Exactly."

"So we have to go back through the tunnels where that bloody station is? That station's fucking creepy! Scares the shit out of me just by passing by. Do we really have to go back there?"

"Consequently."

"You're mean, Aragorn."

"Obviously!"

Aragorn smirked and went to the rest of the Fellowship with his observations on the tunnels. Upon his report, to Pippin's dismay, they started backtracking to the station. Along the way, several members tried to comfort the little Hobbit's nerves.

"Peace yourself, Pippin," said Gandalf, "we may only have to pass that station. We might not have to stay there for more than a few minutes."

"And," Sam said amiably, "if you want to, we'll go ahead first to show you that there's nothing to be scared of in there."

"If all else doesn't comfort you, we can always chase you at a sprint across the station," Merry said.

"I think I like the idea of sprinting across," moaned Pippin.

As they approached the station they had passed, the familiar stench of decomposed and decaying flesh met their noses. It was strange to them to notice a new body sprawled upon a pile of corpses on the platform. A fresh trickle of blood slowly crept its way across the bloodstained stone, over previous paths of blood and between the flesh of other bodies. Gandalf and Aragorn carefully made their way to the new body to inspect it.

When Pippin crossed the threshold of the station, he felt like he was drenched in the blood of the corpses. He gave an involuntary, visible shudder, which Merry was quick to notice.

"Pip?" he asked warily. He put a hand on Pippin's shoulder. "Are you doing okay?"

This time, Pippin's dread traveled to Merry through another shudder. Pippin innocently, and perhaps unconsciously, leaned closer towards his older cousin in fear.

"I'm scared, Merry," he whispered. The biggest difference that set him apart from the others was very evident as he looked into the station. His childlike innocence and pure of heart was showing through.

Merry smiled warmly at his dear cousin. "Come on, Pip." He let him cling fearfully on his arm and, like in ancient times, guided him through his fears.

Up on the platform, Gandalf finished his assessment of the fresh corpse. "It's still warm. I doubt it's been dead for more than a couple hours."

Aragorn gently touched the huge, gaping hole at the base of the human's head. Streaks of red and bruised skin spread out from the wound. He counted a total of four wild streaks, all around the neck. "This man was a Host. The Parasite may still be around."

"You mean this?"

Aragorn was taken aback at the sight of the last weak flails of the Parasite impaled at the very end of Sting. Frodo had subtly brought it under the Man's face and stared at Aragorn with large, waiting eyes.

"Holy shit, Frodo... take that thing out of my face! But, yes," he said in a gentler tone, "that's the one."

"The Parasite's teeth must be exceptionally strong," Gandalf said in a hushed voice. "They drilled right through the base of the skull." He inspected the wound more carefully, making the hole as large as possible to peer in. "The brain looks almost in liquid state. That might be what the Parasite feeds on last before disconnecting itself from its host."

They flipped the body on its back to see its face. If it were somebody they had once known, they wouldn't be able to tell because of the distortions and disfigurations of its face. Its face was pulled into a grotesque expression because many muscles had tensed up but others hadn't. The veins that usually webbed across the face were horribly visible and bulged angrily under the skin. Many of the veins had burst and some were still slowly leaking blood.

"A Parasite's finishing move," said Aragorn, "liquefy the Host's brain, drink the fluids from the wound, move on to the next victim. The secretion it injects must cause muscle tension. The face gets it the most because that's where the circulation goes before the heart stops."

Frodo, with his Parasite-on-a-sword still in hand, grimaced and touched the base of his skull when he imagined what he would feel if a live Parasite had gotten him.

"Uh, Mister Frodo? Gandalf, sir?" Sam came by, the Horn of Gondor fastened securely to him. He had a very anxious face as he approached.

"Yes, Sam?" Frodo said curiously. "What is it?"

"Pippin found something," he replied carefully, "something important." He made his way back to the other platform to the rest of the Fellowship with Frodo, Gandalf and Aragorn following.

Gimli was grumbling with fervent disbelief beside Legolas. Both were standing by the two Hobbits, Merry and Pippin, and facing the blank wall in a corner. The Hobbits, who were usually in motion and enthusiastic, were oddly quiet and still.

Pippin was especially peculiar. He was standing as still as a statue with his arms crossed like he was trying to keep himself from falling apart. His eyes, which normally held curiosity and liveliness, now had fear and a sense of dark knowledge. Instead of being panicky and frightened, he looked set and his spirit would not waver. Merry was next to him, gripping his lance tightly and with the same kind of determination.

Legolas nodded in welcome to the coming members as Gimli simply grunted to show he noticed them before resuming his grumbling.

"What has happened?" Gandalf asked.

"It's right here," Pippin said, eyes never leaving the wall. "The Darkness is here."

"How can the Darkness be here?" Gimli said gruffly. "All that we're looking at is a blank wall with a few cracks in it."

On their own accord, Merry's eyes began to be unfocused. He could still see the wall, but it was blurry and faded, like a photograph that was taken with improper lens. It started to mutate like a piece of melting plastic. Slow, moving lumps shifted around the wall, giving it a bubbling look.

Merry tried to blink or make his eyes focus to stop the wall from moving so eerily but failed. He saw fingertips clawing out from the wall as if they were desperate to leave. More fingertips belonging to ever more hands started to try and scratch their way out through the seemingly solid rock. Pained faces started appearing in the wall like it was a piece of supple plastic. More and more came and with them echoed screams and distant screams.

One hand stretched itself so far that it burst out from the wall, dragging the rest of its ghostly specter out. The skin was ragged and torn like it had been decaying for a long time. What wasn't mutilated was stretched tightly over the bone as if there was no muscle. The face was nothing more than a skull with a thin layer of skin stretched desperately over it. Its gaping eyes were wide open in eternal hopelessness and fear. Its mouth was wide in a permanent state of screaming.

As it rushed towards Merry, he heard its ghostly shriek become louder and louder until it echoed around him. Out of fear, bravery or shock, he stood still and let it pass through him. Immediately, the wall came back to focus and became flat and dull once more.

"It's definitely here," he said, more calmly than he felt. "There's no doubt about that."

"A peculiar presence exists within that wall," Legolas said quietly with his eyes intensely focused on the stone. "Beyond it, the heart of Darkness resides but this wall is not what it seems to be."

"What are you talking about, Elf?" Gimli said roughly. "It's a wall and a wall's a wall."

"That is what's so peculiar about it. There is no wall, from what I sense." The full magical power of the Sindarin Elf was shown through the way Legolas was speaking and how absolutely focused and serious he was. "The Shadow began its reign in there."

"All of you are crazy," said Gimli, ignoring the look of rapt concentration of Legolas. "That bit of the wall, like the rest of the wall, is solid rock that leads to nothing but miles of earth."

"Gimli, you must believe my words: there is no wall!"

"Gods, Legolas! I am going to prove it to you once and for all to you." He went towards the section of the wall, stubbornly ignoring Pippin, Merry and Legolas' cries. He made the motion to lean against it. "This is solid rock."

"Gimli, no!"

But, it was too late. Gimli had already slid through the wall, creating small ripples that escaped everyone's eyes except for Legolas' keen Elvish ones. Without hesitating, the Elf ran in to follow his Dwarvish friend.

Aragorn and Frodo, who had formed a rather close friendship with Legolas, followed in next. Sam steeled his nerves and went in pursuit of his former master.

"The stubbornness of Dwarves never disappear even after millennia," Gandalf said in a quiet, exasperated tone. With the swish of his cloak, he disappeared into the wall.

Pippin once again held onto Merry's arm in fright. The older Hobbit looked at his cousin's curly sandy head and felt a rush of protection over him. Curving his arm so that he could protect Pippin a bit more, he set off towards the wall.

In a split second, the subway station was as it was before the Fellowship arrived. They were inside the Lair of Darkness.

--- ---

Sheep: Anything you lovely readers want to say about it? Complaints, tips, suggestions on character or whatnot? Like it? Hate it? 

Review, please!


	32. Across A Bridge

--- ---

"Sam?"

"Yes, Mister Frodo?"

"How long have we been walking, Sam?"

"Uhh... It's been almost four hours, Mister Frodo."

"Oh. Thank you, Sam."

"It's no problem, Mister Frodo. It's never a problem if you want to ask me anything."

Frodo chuckled. "I know, Sam."

Through the fake door, the Fellowship had been walking down dark, rough tunnels that echoed faintly with snarls and shrieks. Their feet were becoming numb and their surroundings were becoming more and more refined so they decided to stop for a small break.

Merry, with Pippin still close by, was sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall with his scythe propped against his bent leg. Gimli was sitting nearby, his neck arched to look at the architecture around them.

"These tunnels are creepy enough to send chills down your spine for all time," Gimli said lowly, eyes still on the tunnels around him.

"It's all rough but sort of refined," said Merry, looking around, "kind of like a sort of logic in chaos. But I know what you mean about these tunnels. Freaking scary in here."

"The style in here's kind of like the damned pits of Mordor. But the reinforcement's more like modern tunnels. See: the tunnel's like a tube instead of squared with pillars for support. Strange blend of architecture."

Once they had resumed walking, Frodo and Legolas, who had grown closer after the Elf had injured his leg, were leading the way. Gimli walked with them and the others following close behind. After a couple more hours of walking in the dark, Frodo jerked as if he was hit in the shoulder.

"Frodo," said Legolas concernedly, "what's wrong?" He looked into the Hobbit's eyes and, in the pale light from Gandalf's staff, saw that the blue pools in his eyes had grown dramatically along with his pupils, making it look like Frodo had black marbles for eyes. "Frodo!"

"I can see... light," whispered Frodo, eyes staring straight through the dark shadows of the tunnel and his hand still gripping his left shoulder. "It's faint, dull. But it is there, no doubt about that. We're coming to the end of it."

Sure enough, after a while of walking, a weak light started filtering through the shadows. They watched it grow bigger as they continued through the tunnel but it didn't grow stronger by too much as they went towards it. As they walked closer and closer, Frodo's pain gradually ebbed away.

They came out of the shadows to blink and squint into the sudden flood of light from the outdoors. They saw that they were on a bridge hanging between the giant masses of land that was the main part of the city to a tall, thin stone mountain. At the end of the bridge was a gigantic iron door.

When Sam was about halfway across the bridge, he gave into his temptation and peeked over the railing down to the ground. It was like an entirely different city had developed within their own. For miles beyond his sight, industrial-like houses and refineries lay around the tall spike of stone like a horrible blanket. The only thing that brought his senses back to the bridge was the sound of Pippin skateboarding past him to the rest of the Fellowship.

"Come on, Sam. Don't want the Neos to get you, do you?" Pippin said as he passed with a smirk.

"So how do we get in?" questioned Merry. "Say a password?"

"This is not Moria," said Gimli, "these creatures wouldn't have the brains to think up of something as exquisite as the Doors of Moria." His expression flickered as he thought of the architecture his old race had made.

"Maybe we should just try and get in first," said Aragorn. "I don't think the door's locked, since we're the only ones in the city who actually gives a shit about the dying Light." Without any more hesitation, he tried pushing his way through the doors. Even with everyone else helping him, the doors wouldn't budge.

As they stood back to examine the doors again and to catch their breaths, Frodo noticed that two vertical, protruding bars flanked both sides of the split between the doors. With a hunch, he wiped away some of the grime under one of the bars, read the Tengwar script and let out a resigned scoff.

"Huh?" Gimli mumbled. "What?"

Frodo gripped one of the two bars and muttered in reply, "Pull."

He gave a great heave backwards and the door opened a small crack with a loud groan.

"Pull," Legolas scoffed at Aragorn before he and the others went and helped Frodo open the door properly. A long, spiraling tunnel met them with various, scattered, sinewy skeletons lying around the edges of the path.

Pippin was the first to edge into the spiraling corridor and look around. In the dim light, he grasped for the wall and dropped his skateboard onto the ground with a clatter.

"Hey, Pip." Merry came through the crack of the door but was having a bit of trouble getting his scythe through. "Be careful, will you? That slope doesn't look too friendly."

"Mm, yeah." He put his foot on his board to stop it from sliding down the path.

Outside, a pair of hands shifted the scythe suddenly and sent Merry stumbling backwards because of his futile efforts to pull his scythe through. He lost his balance so much that he staggered right into Pippin, making him put both feet on the skateboard and start sliding down the spiral.

"Waaahhh! Merry!" screamed Pippin.

"Pippin! Oh, crap."

Trying not to panic, Pippin streaked down the smooth spiral with his skateboard wheels clattering over every stone they rolled across. Keeping his wits, he wound his way down the passageway, veering left to right and sometimes right over bones, limbs and fallen equipment.

As he spiraled down, the torches and light fixtures grew stronger, shedding more light around him and showing the stone slide its true worth. The shadows flickered across the walls and reached for him as he passed by. The indistinguishable corpses that scattered the path steadily grew more detailed and showed bodies of humans and skeletal remains.

Right when he reached the bottom of the spiral, something shot out from the side near the ground and grabbed his skateboard. Screaming, he flew a few meters, rolled roughly across the ground and hit the opposite wall with quite a bit of force. His whole body ached from his little flight.

"Silly Hobbit," hissed a voice in the shadows.

With his head pounding, he slowly pushed himself high enough to look around. "Who's there?" he asked hoarsely.

His skateboard was rolled across the small distance to him, to his surprise. A small figure hobbled into the pool of light.

"Stupid Hobbit rolls down on his board with wheels," grumbled Smeagol, "screaming, clattering all the ways down. Wakes up the Master's lair. Hobbitses are supposed to be quiet, tricksey little creatures, precious."

"Gollum," whispered Pippin, a tone of disgust peeking through. He started to slowly get up onto his feet.

"No! Not Gollum. We are Smeagol, precious! Smeagol is nice to the Hobbitses and their friends. Let us show you." Eagerly, he bounded to Pippin and helped him up. "See? Smeagol is nice." He gave Pippin a hopeful, semi- toothy smile.

Pippin was saved from replying by a strange scraping noise that was increasing in volume every second and a familiar voice coming down the pathway.

"Move it!"

Both Pippin and Smeagol rushed to the shadows in time to see Frodo, Merry and Legolas come sliding down the slope on Uruk-Hai shields. Just before they hit the bottom of the slope, they all tried to stop and illuminated the room with showers of sparks caused by the sudden force of the metal against the stone. But, Frodo and Merry couldn't stop in time and were sent careening into a wall. A few seconds later, Sam came sliding down and added to the pain.

"Aaah!" yelled Frodo, who was at the bottom of the pile. "Damn it, you two are really heavy! Get off!"

"Master!" Smeagol ran over and helped all three Hobbits to their feet. Then, he circled Frodo like some sort of demented dog. "Is Master all right? He isn't hurt, is he?"

"I'm fine, Smeagol," he mumbled. In an instant, he realized who he was talking to and adopted a look of intense dislike. "Smeagol! How dare you show your face to me again!"

"But, Master... nice Master..."

"What do you want, Smeagol?" Sam asked roughly. He took a little offense to Gollum and Smeagol's lack of gratitude and disrespect to the food he gave them.

"We wants to help the Fellowship," he said quickly. "We don't wants to hurt anymore. We wants to help the Nice Master destroy the Master so that we can be free." He looked right into Frodo's eyes. "All we really wants now is to be free. The Precious is gone. We wants to be free."

The expression of hatred that was plastered on Frodo's face faltered at Smeagol's apparent sincerity. Without taking his eyes off Smeagol, he asked, "Can we trust his words, Sam?"

"I don't know, Mister Frodo. He could just be lying to us again, the little stinker! But," he added, "he seems to be serious."

"That's what he was like when he ambushed us in Emyn Muil! Everything he told us, everything he did was to ultimately get the One Ring! Gollum, if not him, probably has some sort of plan to kill us all!" He looked at Sam seriously. "You were right about him, Sam. He's completely rotten and a villain."

"Master must believes us! Only Smeagol is here. We tolds him to leave and never come back and he did! But we wants to be completely free from the Dark Shadow, free to catch all the little fishies we wants."

"This time we must believe him," said Legolas, stepping forward with the Uruk-shield in hand. "I see only truth in his eyes; there is no deceit I can see."

Smeagol cowered from Legolas as he came forward. He was forever tainted with Darkness because of the corruption of the One Ring and sensed the intimidating power Legolas had as an Elf.

"Smeagol," Legolas asked gently as he knelt in front of him, "how will you help us? What do you think you can do for the Fellowship?"

"Smeagol," he said, "Smeagol knows the Lair. Smeagol can help the Fellowship sneak in like sneaky little shadows. Even scary Elveses can become a shadow within a shadow with Smeagol to help."

Legolas paused and looked as deep as he could into his eyes. He didn't touch Smeagol nor did he force him to look, but they locked eyes with each other for several moments. During that time, the princely Elf seemed to be peering into Smeagol's very soul. Something seemed to change behind Legolas' eyes after he was finished and got up.

"Okay, Smeagol. I believe you."

"You... you do?"

He nodded. "I see nothing for me not to believe."

"Are you mad, Legolas?" Sam exclaimed. "He's a traitor! He'll lead us from here through to the very heart of Hell, he will! Once we're there, he'll leave us there to die and rot or get eaten!"

"We're going to the heart of Hell anyway, Sam. We need to get there unnoticed and I believe that Smeagol will be able to lead us. If our deaths await us in that dank pit, then so be it, as long as we succeed in our mission."

There was no anger in his voice towards Sam or anyone else but there was a strong sense of duty in the way he said it that was made clear that his words were final. They were going to see the mission out to their deaths if it was needed.

"And Smeagol..." Legolas said, not looking at him.

"Yes?" he answered meekly.

He whipped out one of his long knives and pointed it a few inches from Smeagol's face so quickly that everyone there only saw a vibrant streak of white silver flash in the air.

Smeagol gasped in fear and stayed as still as he could with his huge eyes focused on the slender Elvish knife straight in front of him.

"If you or your other half betray us," warned Legolas, "you shall feel the pain of the weapons of a Mirkwood prince. Mark my words." He slid his elegant knife back into its sheath.

"Smeagol will try not to hurts or betray the scary Elves and its Fellowship. The scary Elf has made himself clear. Very clear. Yesss."

"Don't call me a scary Elf," he said with a glare.

"Nice Elf. Nice Hobbitses."

At that point, they could hear Gandalf, Aragorn and Gimli making their way closer to the bottom. Gandalf's staff steadily clunked onto the floor which mingled with their low voices and the rustling of Gimli's armor. They waited silently for them to come down so they could move forward.

"Legolas?" Pippin tugged on the hem of the Elf's frayed tank top under the Lorien cloak.

"Yes, Pippin?"

"I'm hungry. Do you have any lembas left?"

--- ---


	33. Separation

--- ---

Smeagol led the way through the shifting shadows into the Lair of Darkness. Obeying their orders, he led them through a path that would be most obscure to the Darkness and most of its creatures.

"Come, Hobbitses!" he called back to them from the top of a small rise. "The Fellowship must be quick and soft as shadows. They must keep up if they wants to get right into the Lair." He then went a small way ahead to make sure nothing was in their way.

"Smeagol is good," he said to himself happily, "Smeagol is helping Master Hobbit and his Fellowship. Smeagol will be freed soon from the Darkness. No more pain. No more screamings. Maybe... maybe no more Gollum!"

He gasped in fear at the sudden rise in his voice. He immediately fell silent and listened carefully. All he heard was the faint scrambling of rocks caused by the Fellowship.

"Smeagol must keep quiet or He'll hear us," he said quietly, "and He'll come with Orcses, Uruks and scary, filthy, biting Neos! We must be silent. We must be shadows, precious, or the Dark Master shall come for us. We don't wants that, no. All He's done for us is give us small, tiny fishies to eat after we have done so much work for him. The Master is evil and we don't wants to be with it anymore, precious. We have the Hobbit master with us again.

"But Hobbit Master is mad at us. Mad because of the Ring and his finger. Mad at what we did, he is.

"No! Master is mad at Gollum, not Smeagol. Yes, Smeagol is good. Smeagol doesn't wants to hurt the nice Hobbit Master, even though he has changed. The whole Fellowship has changed. The scary Elf from the nasty woods of Mirkwood is a nice Elf.

"Even the fat Hobbit has changed..."

"Smeagol! Where are ya, Smeagol? We can't see that far into the dark, you know!" Sam and Gimli called down the tunnel.

"Smeagol is here! Smeagol is here!" He came back into sight running back on all fours. "Hobbitses must hurry up or else hungry Neos and Orcses will come for you."

"I am not a Hobbit," growled Gimli, "I am a Dwarf. Our races are quite different, got that?"

"Big, hairy Hobbit."

Sam could only just hold back Gimli while the others managed their way up the rise.

"Be thankful, Smeagol," Sam said to him while keeping a firm hold on the Dwarf. "You don't need to worry about this guy killing because of his bad temper. I can hold him off now 'cause I'm only a couple inches shorter and we're about the same size!"

At that, Gimli snarled at him and stopped trying to get Smeagol. While the rest of the Fellowship climbed and assembled on the rise, Smeagol sat quietly, crouched on the ground. He silently watched the members of the Fellowship with his large, luminous eyes.

"Is the Fellowship all here? Good! Then follow Smeagol now. Come, come. Fellowship must follow Smeagol."

Following his Smeagol's footsteps behind Frodo and Sam, Legolas felt sadness and amazement for the two Hobbits. He wondered how such gentle, peaceful souls could be so consumed with hatred and spite for a single being that was helping them into the Lair. At any given time, they were happy, peaceful and even content if they were fed with sufficient food. Now, they were suspicious, angry and hateful.

"Well," he thought to himself, "every being has to have a Light side and a Dark side. Eru knows Smeagol does. I suppose Frodo's and Sam's Dark sides show when they see Smeagol or Gollum."

Smeagol led the Fellowship through dark, narrow tunnels, sinister-looking rooms and corridors that felt like rotting, putrid death lived within the stone walls. The main things that broke the silence were the sound of their own echoing footsteps and the occasional despairing wail that wasn't quite real nor was it fake. Each step they took plunged them deeper into a cold feeling of hopelessness.

"Down here, masters. This is a shortcut Smeagol uses." He circled and settled on the other side of a manhole. "Orcses don't know it. Uruks don't know it. Not even Gollum knows it, precious. Only Smeagol uses and knows about it. Now Master Hobbit and his Fellowship can uses it."

They debated on how to make sure the reliability of the manhole and the contents inside of it. In the end, Gimli and Aragorn lifted the round cover off quietly and they all looked in. Nobody could see anything but level stone floor a few meters below.

"It's a little dark, isn't it?" commented Sam. "Where is this, anyway?"

"This is an empty roomsies," Smeagol said knowledgably. "It connects right with the Dark Lair, it does."

"Someone has to make sure that it's truly empty," said Gandalf. "The last thing we need is another ambush on all of us and raising an almighty uproar."

"Yeah," agreed Aragorn. "Legolas, go."

The Elf stared at Aragorn for a moment of complete and numb amazement at the thought that he would volunteer him. That feeling quickly turned to reluctant willingness and the stare turned into a piercing glare.

"I'm coming to haunt you if I die," threatened Legolas.

Carefully, he plunged his head upside-down into the room. A quick glance around with his Elf-eyes told him that the room was indeed deserted. Righting himself, he dropped silently into the room and darted into the shadows for protection against surprised foes. After a moment of hearing nothing but the breathing of his companions above, he crept out into the middle of the room with his hand near his handgun.

It was a completely featureless room with one wall straight and industrial- like. Gradually, sloping down, the walls and ceiling turned into hewn rock.

In the middle of the room was a single TV on a simple stand and an old, musty armchair. The sound was off but the screen was on. Static remained the most constant image and it set a strange white glow that flickered across the armchair and the rough rock in front of it. Every so often, a different image of destruction would briefly show across the TV screen, breaking the static. The images never stayed for more than a split second and appeared at irregular times.

Curious and disturbed at the same time, Legolas slowly made his way to the changing TV. Strange, blue-silver beams of light streamed in, some from small, high windows in the industrial wall, others came from openings too high and bright to see. They seemed to fade as they splashed across Legolas as he walked to the TV.

Orange fire and smoke. Static. Static. A man with an arrow and blood sticking out from his heart. Static. Scattered claws and skulls of Orcs and Neos. Static. Static. Children dead with dried blood at the base of their skulls. A woman sprawled on a wall with dozens of knives in her. Static for a second. Fire. A tortured face. Bloodstained clothes on a child. Blood. Burned trees. Shattered swords, broken staffs. Dead Fellowship. His own empty eyes. A shriek growing louder and louder in his ears. A shadow. Darkness.

"Legolas!" A whisper came from above and behind.

A quiet gasp escaped from him as he whirled around to look at the owner of the voice. Frodo's concerned eyes met his own but Frodo was looking at him upside down from the manhole.

"Are you okay, Legolas?" Frodo whispered to him. "Is everything good?"

Legolas took a quick look back at the TV.

Constant static.

"Y-yeah," Legolas said slowly, slightly unnerved by what he saw. "I-I'm fine, it's fine. There's nothing here except a broken TV. You can come down."

With amazing dexterity, Frodo flipped his whole body through the manhole and dropped down to the ground very much like a cat. Above him, Merry and Aragorn noticed and meowed softly at him before they climbed down one by one.

As they all dropped into the room, Smeagol paced around their legs nervously. Being the fourth being to drop from the manhole, he had to wait for the rest of the Fellowship to come. He bounded to the entrance of the room and listened carefully for any noise. Luckily, the noise level was next to nonexistent and the screeches of the Neos were very distant.

A loud crash was heard when Gimli literally fell to the floor because he slipped.

"Shh!" Smeagol turned and put a finger to his lips. "Fellowship must be silent to succeed in their mission. We do not wants to be found out, precious! Elveses must keep the hairy Hobbit quiet."

Gimli growled as Legolas helped him up. He despised being called a hairy Hobbit.

Perhaps he sensed the glares aimed at him from Gimli but Smeagol immediately started creeping down the hall from the entrance. When he saw that he was not being followed by the Fellowship, he went back to retrieved them.

"Come, good masters. Smeagol will lead you safely now. Smeagol knows the way very well. Very well." He led them through more half-industrialized tunnels. "We are very close now."

The hallways were like the room with the television. One side was straight, smooth and looked like it was manufactured like concrete though it was immediately connected to the land. Over their heads, the hall structure became rougher and much more raw until, on the other side of the hall, the rock was roughly and crudely cut out. More beams of the strange light as well as the occasional dull electric light bulb shed light and shadows throughout the halls.

They crept around corners, went down hundreds of stairs with sheer drops into pits of fire and darkness and through the maze that the Master created. Obeying Smeagol's requests, they stayed speechless except for absolute emergencies and blended with the shadows with their ancient Lorien cloaks.

Eventually, they came to another deserted hallway but this one had a distinct red glow at the end that radiated behind an elegantly carved door. The golden-red rays pulsated from the cracks between the door and the floor. Forgetting all pride and dignity, Smeagol cowered behind Sam and Frodo's legs with fear when they came close to the door.

"The heart of the Darkness is behind that door," Smeagol said hoarsely, as if his voice was being taken away. "The Dark Master lies in the Lair behind that door, precious. He is waiting to swallow the Light Holders."

"He's waiting for us?" Frodo repeated incredulously. "You've been leading us into the Lair knowing perfectly well that He's WAITING for us?"

Smeagol squealed and attempted to fight back when Legolas bent down and held him forcefully on the wall. A white silver knife was a centimeter from his throat as a pair of intensely angry Elvish eyes glared at him.

"Explain yourself," Legolas said lowly. A hidden growl lay beneath his voice, speaking much more than what he had actually said.

"Please don't hurt us," begged Smeagol. Tear-soaked eyes darted to Legolas' eyes and his deadly knife.

Anger still flaming within him, Legolas lowered his weapon but maintained a very firm grip on Smeagol. He repeated, "Explain yourself."

"Dark Master has waited for Fellowship for a very long time," began Smeagol. "Very long time. He tells us of dreams that scare Him. Dreams filled with threats to the Darkness. Dreams that blind with nine beams of shining light. He knows you were coming, precious. He knows that you come but he doesn't know WHEN."

"That still does not justify what you did, Smeagol," said Gandalf. Smeagol didn't reply. "Speak!"

"The path Smeagol leads! The path!" he said quickly. "The Fellowship must be wondering why the path Smeagol leads them is so quiet and dead. That is because the path is well avoided by the Dark creatures. No one comes down because they're all scared."

"Scared?" repeated Gandalf. "Of what?"

Slowly, Smeagol pointed to a shadowy path that led a small way apart from the main hallway they were in. They turned to look in time to see Aragorn walk into the hall.

"Aragorn!" Gimli called down the hall.

Aragorn had a strange feeling as he walked down the hall. It was a feeling of familiarity yet the feeling felt oddly corrupted. He felt lured by this feeling down the hall and it grew stronger with every step he took. Even the echoing of his footsteps sounded slightly distorted.

After a moment of walking, he was standing in front of a severely marred door. He delicately traced his fingers along the slashes and immediately felt as if his very spirit was shaken. He gasped, withdrew his hand and stood back.

Looking at the door properly, he saw a startling design under the destruction. It was a design that he knew very well.

"Designs of the Calaquendi," he whispered. With a small nudge, the door silently opened.

Inside was a dull light bulb hanging despairingly over a solitary wooden chair. The chair sat in the middle of the small pool of light that the small overhead lamp created. The wood of the chair was thick, old and heavy. On appearance, it was very handsome wood but the feeling of absolute chaos and darkness cast a very noticeable shadow of anguish that had overthrown its beauty. It was bolted to the floor, as if the being sitting in it could lift it easily and splinter it against the wall. The cold metal chains and braces were scattered across the room, barely attached to the chair itself. Whatever being that was bound in that room was clearly powerful and needed to be caged in.

Yet, despite the enormous feeling of torture and chaos in that room, Aragorn could feel a small wave of something vaguely familiar. He tried to remember what it was from, but his mind could not recall.

"Aragorn!" His name rang down the hall and reverberated in the room. "Aragorn, what's going on? Is anything wrong?"

"No," he called back as he left and closed off the room, "I'm coming."

"Are you sure you're all right, laddie?" Gimli asked him as he came back out of the shadowy hall. "You look a little shaken up."

"I'm fine, Gimli, thank you," he replied, still pale.

He was then quickly told of Smeagol's little secret. At once, he looked over and noticed a scowl upon Legolas' face. Behind Sam was a very frightened Smeagol who kept looking fearfully at Legolas.

"Do not anger the Prince of Mirkwood," Aragorn advised Smeagol, "it may very well be the last thing you'll ever do." This earned him a smirk from the prince himself.

"Through the door," Smeagol muttered again and again, "we must go through the door. Come, master Hobbits." He tugged at Sam and Frodo's jean legs towards the ominous door. "We must go through the door, masters."

Silently, Frodo walked forward and opened the door wide enough for them to squeeze through. With his shoulder staring to irritate him, he went through the door.

At once, the sounds of the damned abyss rushed at him with screeches of Neos, clanging of machines to make weapons of war and the constant yells and growls of Orcs and Uruk-Hai that were all too familiar to him. A faint ripple of heat rose up to the level they were at and carried the stench of smelting and filth that stung his nose. His eyes adjusted to the sudden change of environment and saw the heart of the Lair for what it truly was.

The glow of red fire and bright, yellow lights covered the main cavern of the Lair. As he went closer to the edge of the platform, he could see a huge field of strange pods that grew out of the ground. His shoulder ached a little more but he could see that there were things growing within each pod. Writhing, growing pods with developing Neos, Orcs, Parasites, Uruk-Hais and giant Hunters lay close together to make the field look disgustingly alive. On the side nearest to him, which was the busiest, there was a gigantic tank filled with vile-looking liquid. There was a valve that controlled the release of it.

Tearing his eyes away from the horrendous sight, he looked towards the right and saw giant flames with dozens of Orcs and Parasite-controlled humans slaving around them. He could see painful third-degree burns on many of the humans working and felt great sadness when he saw little children with the snake-like Parasite tendrils wrapped around their necks. The platform of fire was directly opposite from where he was standing and was slightly higher than the field of pods, which was ultimately higher than the ground level but lower than his niche.

A sudden growling and snarling from below him startled him so much that he jumped and fell to the ground. Vicious shadows danced on the ground below him and the long dagger-like claws of Neos flailed.

"Holy shit," he said to himself under his breath, "we're right above a Neo cage. What the hell did we get ourselves into?"

"Frodo!" whispered Sam's hushed voice. He came to his side and helped him up. "Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you, Mister Frodo?"

"No, Sam. Not yet, at least." He watched the last member, Aragorn, come out of the door but noticed a certain absence. With a hard tone embedded in his voice, he said sharply, "Where's Smeagol?"

"He's not with you?" Gandalf asked. "He didn't come out with you two?"

Frodo and Sam shook their heads. They both thought that they were alone when they entered the cavern. But, they were quick to notice that neither of them took a backward glance to the door since they crossed the threshold. Sam said, "Maybe he did come out with us and we didn't see."

The ground under them shook violently and an ear-splitting roar came from the cages beneath the ground. Deep cracks issued from the edge all the way to the door behind them. A familiar scream of surprise was heard to their left.

"Smeagol!" Frodo said in anger. He briefly saw his frightened eyes before Smeagol scrambled away up then flight of stairs. "Smeagol!"

The ground shook again and even deeper cracks appeared in the rock. Boom. Rocks and stones began to crumble in the cavern they were in with the Dark creatures screeching and yowling in a frenzy under the layer of rock they were standing on.

Frodo darted across the shattering ground and up the stairs in pursuit of Smeagol.

"Mister Frodo!" Sam sprinted after him, sword drawn and cloak swishing behind him.

"Sam, you fool!" Gandalf cried out. He tried to follow the two Hobbits but another huge vibration started to totally crumble the floor beneath their feet.

Rocks from the ceiling started falling around them and shattering the now- fragile stone floor, dropping huge chunks of granite into the cage below them. Neo jaws snapped up at them and tried to dig their teeth into their legs but the rock was still too high. With another pound of a nearby Hunter, the whole platform shuddered and dropped. The Neos were literally inches from tearing at their skin.

"Gandalf!" Legolas grabbed the elderly wizard and pushed him to the edge of the crumbling area to the hall to the right of the door. "Go!"

Just then, a multitude of stones from the floor fell faster than ever. Merry and Pippin quickly hopped and ran across the falling stones and jumped to the edge of the unharmed hallway. A rock slipped down from right under Merry, causing him to fall.

"Aaah!" he screamed.

Pippin's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist tightly. He kicked sharply to keep the Neos at bay while Pippin and Gandalf pulled him up.

"Aragorn, look out!" Merry yelled to him.

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were racing against time to escape from plummeting into the cage full of live, hungry Neos. They took large, long strides to jump from one rock between crevices to another towards the edge of the platform that opened to the rest of the Lair. Split-second timing and swift footing were crucial for them to make it to the edge.

Without thinking about what other horrors could have been waiting for them beyond the edge of the cage, the Three Hunters leapt from the very edge in time to escape from falling and being mauled by Neos. Luckily, only the ground was rushing towards them after taking their jump.

They hit the floor after falling seven, eight feet from the air and rolled and flipped to get their feet firmly on the ground. Aragorn and Legolas managed the feat with the ancient grace the Numenoreans and Elves had. Unfortunately, Gimli and his race had never possessed such grace and he survived the fall with more bruises on himself and his pride.

In the time of five minutes, there was a huge, gaping hole in the Lair of Darkness that distinctly separated the eight remaining members of the Fellowship.

Frodo and Sam had run up the stairs to find the creature, Smeagol. Gandalf, along with the young Hobbits Merry and Pippin, who had taken the Horn of Gondor from Sam and firmly tied it to Pippin's side, had been pushed down a hall by Legolas to escape the deadly fall into the Neos' cage. The Elf himself, Aragorn and Gimli had fallen to the main floor outside of the cage and had no way to rejoin the wizard and Hobbits.

As the noise from various creatures grew louder and louder, Merry and Pippin heard something that would be etched in their minds forever.

"So it begins," said Gandalf. "The final battle of the Fellowship and the fate of the Light of the world will soon be decided."

--- ---

Sheep: Wow... Long chapter again. Damn.


	34. The Path of Freedom

A/N: The next four chapters take place at the same time just at different places within the Lair.

--- ---

"So it begins," said Gandalf. "The final battle of the Fellowship and the fate of the Light of the world will soon be decided.

"Come, Merry, Pippin." He turned his heel and dashed down the passageway at a quick pace. "Hurry. Soon, this whole hall will be filled with orcs and other devils."

"But what about Sam and Frodo?" Merry asked as he caught up with the wizard. Pippin ran up closely behind him. "What are we going to do about them? And what about Aragorn and the others?"

"We must have faith in them," he replied, "and in ourselves if we are to make it out of here alive."

They came to a three-way fork with cries and shouts echoing towards them from all sides. Instinctively, Merry put his treasured scythe in both hands in attack position and waited as the voices of the Dark grew louder and louder around them. To his side and behind him, he could feel Gandalf and Pippin withdraw their own weapons. The power of the infamous White Wizard flooded the room and gave strength to him and Pippin.

"Be ready," warned Gandalf. His brilliant white staff shimmered with dangerous magic as he readied Glamdring. "Here they come. And for the Light's sake, stay near me and stay alive."

They two Hobbits nodded silently and watched the first wave of Dark creatures rise up and rush at them. In a flash, Merry twirled his scythe and deflected the incoming arrows that the Orcs and unleashed. Another swing of his staff brought down a dozen Dark creatures and a torrent of dark red blood splattered around the walls.

Steeling his nerves like he did every time he was faced with a large battle, Pippin threw his short sword into an Uruk-Hai a fair distance away, killing it and the Uruk behind it. A trio of Orcs immediately came between him and his sword.

"Oh, look at the little human!" teased one. "He's lost his weapon and unable to defend himself."

"Well, if the boss wants the Holders of Light extinguished," growled another one as he and the others raised their swords high, "it's not our place to defy him, is it?"

"I'm not a little human!" Pippin cried out, throwing his skateboard to the ground. He dashed around the trio on his little piece of wood on wheels, narrowly missing a barrage of swords that came crashing down. While he rushed towards the pair of Uruk-Hai corpses with his sword firmly embedded in them, he managed to snatch up a crude Orcish sword and swiftly took down any opponent in his path. Once he got to his own sword, he pulled it out and bared both in combat to the trio of Orcs.

"I'm not a little human," he repeated to the last orc, "I'm a Hobbit." With that, he slit the Orc's throat.

There was a long enough lull in the ongoing waves of Dark creatures for them to escape further down the hallway. Cloaks billowing with swirling patterns of red light and black shadows behind them, they ran through the midlevel of the Lair. The tall columns beside them flashed by as they ran and shed long shadows across their backs. All too soon, they could hear the noises of swords being unsheathed, armour clattering together and running footsteps towards them.

Gandalf rushed in front of the two Hobbits just as the new troop of grotesque Dark creatures came into view from the stairs ahead of them. The leader of the pack of Orcs and Uruk-Hai, a particularly scarred and mutilated Uruk-Hai, stopped and made his troops stop behind him.

"THIS is what the force of Light sends as its defenders!" crowed the leader. "An old man and a couple of boys. What a pathetic defence. I expected something a bit more of a challenge, didn't you, boys?" He roared to his troops behind him.

Excitedly, the Orcs and Uruk-Hai clashed their swords to their shields and armour. At the leader's command, they rushed to attack Gandalf and the two Hobbits, thirsty for their blood.

Gandalf muttered something quickly under his breath that made his staff glow with a blindingly bright white light. The air itself seemed to vibrate and react to his magic. A large sphere of translucent magic surrounded him and the Hobbits behind him, which had faint currents of electrifying magic gliding across its surface.

"I may be an old man," Gandalf said in a terrifying, resounding voice as he gathered more magic, "but I carry the ancient magic of the Istari. The Darkness will not prevail in this world and it should fear the wizard called Gandalf the White as it had in the ancient past!"

Huge tendrils of white magic exploded from the top of the staff. With tremendous force, the magic ripped through the air and collided with the pack of Orcs and Uruks. Each creature it hit, it wrapped itself around and attacked the Darkness within them. The air was full of pained screams that were barely audible over the roar of the White Wizard's magic. When the light faded, the bodies of the Orcs and Uruks lady scattered in front of Gandalf and the two Hobbits, all of them dead and burned from the magical blast.

The protective barrier slowly fell as Gandalf returned to normal. He struggled to keep his strength up but failed and fell to his knees. His staff fell out of his hands to the floor with a clatter.

"Gandalf!" Merry and Pippin cried out. They bent down and helped him back up onto his feet. Pippin retrieved his staff while Merry asked concernedly, "Are you all right, Gandalf? What happened?"

"I seem to have used up a tad too much magic," Gandalf said, a little strained. He was pale and a little sweaty but he seemed to be recovering himself. "I'm all right, Merry, thank you." He took his staff from Pippin and thanked him.

As they continued down the hallway, Merry commented with amazement at the spectacular display of magic that had just happened. "I never knew you could do something like that!" he exclaimed.

Just as they reached the top of the stairs lined with monumental columns, several wet explosions rang through the air. The unmistakable cry of a Hunter was heard followed by another identical roar mingled with more, less severe explosions. For a few long seconds, nothing was heard except for the loud, piercing shrieks of Neos combined with the thunderous roars of Hunters.

"Gandalf, Merry! Look at the field of pods!" He pointed out between the columns. "The Dark creatures are awakening and they don't sound too happy, do they?"

An arrow, barely visible, shot through the air and hit the nearest Hunter, causing it to roar in pain. The diamond-tipped arrow had shot through the muscle and bone into its internal systems. Enraged, the Hunter led the way towards the archer, who was partially obscured by his shorter companion.

"It's Legolas!" Merry said. "Gimli's with him, too! But Aragorn's missing..."

"We can't worry about Aragorn right now!" Gandalf said. "Legolas is in immediate danger and if we don't do something now," he said as he looked at Pippin, "he and Gimli will surely perish."

Pippin stared back at the wizard, unable to say anything. "Me?" he finally squeaked out, "what can I do? I'm just a little Hobbit."

"Something that is now clearly proven to be able to kick some major Dark ass," muttered Merry. "With this, though..." He tapped the sacred Horn of Gondor strapped to Pippin's side. "I think we can kick some bolas as well as some ass. Don't you, Pip?"

Positively beaming with mischievous teenage energy, Pippin quickly loosened the Horn and brought it to his lips. With all the hope he could muster, he blew hard into the ancient Horn of Gondor.

The clear, rich tones of the Horn rang through the whole cavern. It echoed through the walls and multiplied the effects of the magical sound. Its proud, powerful and ancient trumpeting shook every Dark creature's essence, stirring fear into their beings that had been slumbering in the Darkness for millennia. After a few moments of calling, a ringing silence followed.

Out of nowhere but coming from every crevice of the Lair, a ghostly echo of the Horn's call was heard. It grew louder and louder with each trumpet blast that was heard and not seen. As it grew louder, it seemed to come from beside Merry, Pippin and Gandalf.

Pale, ghostly threads of white energy began to twist in the air as the invisible Horn was blowing. Formless spectres dived in and out of the ground and walls, wailing angered yells as they flew. Feeding on the trumpet sounds of the Horn, they became stronger and started to take shape. The Horn had stopped but the spirits of the dead continued to gather and take form.

Merry and Pippin were shaking at the sight of the ghosts and Pippin was holding onto the silent Horn of Gondor very tightly. Both of them yelled out of surprise when a heavy hand suddenly grabbed their shoulders.

"I never expected a couple of Hobbits to be able to summon the Great Army of Middle-Earth," Boromir said smoothly. Nevertheless, he smiled warmly at his companions.

"Boromir!" Merry gasped, heart racing. Pippin, who was still trying to recover himself from nearly fainting, said nothing. Once he got his bearings, Merry growled, "Boromir, I really ought to..."

"Do what? Kill me? It's a little late for that, don't you think?" Boromir snapped with a huge grin. "That pat on the shoulder was just too hard to pass up, guys. Sorry."

"Oh, my god," moaned Pippin, holding his head, "flashbacks of high school. You grabbing us by surprise and shoving us into our own lockers. Oh, my god, the flashbacks."

Boromir just nervously laughed and hastily apologized.

"Listen," he said seriously, "there is a chamber down this hall that is most importance to the survival of this world. After all this time, there are still human survivors in this dead city. Inside that chamber is the last few dozen of them, untainted by the Darkness."

"Untainted after all this time?" repeated Gandalf. "How is that possible?"

"They simply keep them alive for the purity of their blood. According to what I've heard, untouched humans taste better than the ones controlled by the Parasites. They don't hurt them so that there's more edible meat when they kill them and the humans are kept in that chamber because far fewer Dark creatures can reach it and so that the humans can't escape from the series of guards that lead to the prison."

"So they're being slaughtered like cattle?" Pippin exclaimed with indignity. "We've got to go and free them!"

"But we have no way of getting them out," Merry pointed out. "The entrance is completely blocked off, remember?"

"Eh?" Boromir was a little confused.

"If you haven't noticed, there is a rather large hole in the cavern across from us," Gandalf said.

Boromir's eyes widened greatly when he turned and saw the big, gaping hole where the Neo cage used to be. "Aragorn's work?"

The three of the Fellowship shook their heads fervently. "Hunters and Neos."

Boromir decided not to say anything and continued. "There is an escape route just beyond the chamber through a small maze. A back door, if you will. You can lead the survivors through there."

"BOROMIR!" Legolas and Gimli's panicked voices splintered through the air.

"Shit!" Boromir's military instincts came back into his mind. "I must leave you now, lest two more members of the Fellowship join my dead army. If you get into trouble or if you need a guide, blow the Horn. Faramir will come and help. Go! Save the survivors!"

Without looking back, Gandalf, Merry and Pippin ran through the hall and down the stairs. Translucent, white spirits rushed through the bare walls around them as they flew towards the chamber filled with the human survivors. They saw that the spirits gained color and solidity as the spectres charged to join the other warriors of Middle-Earth.

They passed under an ominous archway, identical to most other archways they had seen, and entered a shadowy corridor lit by a few hanging light fixtures. There were beings that stood quietly and limply every few meters of the corridor but, because of the poor lighting, they couldn't see what the series of guards were. From what they could see, the hall curved to the right about a dozen meters away from them.

Hesitating to take a step forward from the threshold under the archway, they tried to make out what the guards were.

They were too small to be Uruk-Hai or Hunters. Their postures and basic frame of body were much too different to be Neos. They looked like they were Orcs but they were a bit too thin to be normal Orcs. What were they?

Taking a huge gulp to swallow the nervous lump in his throat, Merry held his scythe tightly and bravely took a few steps into the dark corridor. Without even stealing a glance from the guards, he walked past the first set of guards without any trouble.

Following his example, Gandalf and Pippin anxiously walked past the first set of guards and joined Merry. Together, they set towards the survivors' chamber.

They had barely taken three steps when one of the guards nearest the front whipped its rod and hit a hidden panel. Without another warning, huge iron doors slid out from the archway and slammed shut, sealing the entrance to the Lair from them.

"Oh, shit," Pippin said.

Movement filled the corridor as the guards came to life. Guttural moans and angry growls echoed down the hall as the guards started dragging themselves towards Gandalf, Merry and Pippin with gnarled hands and weapons held out.

"Major shit," corrected Merry as he raised his scythe.

Gandalf set off a large blast of light from his staff and temporarily blinded the surrounding guards. The beings threw up their spindly arms to their faces to shield themselves from the sudden light and screeched a sound so horrible that it sent violent shivers up the spines of Gandalf, Merry and Pippin. As the light ebbed away, Pippin saw the pale complexion of the guards' arms and noticed the writhing black tentacles around their necks.

"They're humans," gasped Pippin. "They're all humans guarding the survivors!"

"The wretched Parasites control them," said Gandalf, looking for a way out of the crowd. "They are not humans any longer since the demons attached themselves to them. Give them mercy and a swift death to let them sleep."

A guard recovered from the light and lunged at Merry. He quickly swung his scythe out at the guard but struck him with the flat of his blade, knocking the guard onto the floor.

"I can't kill them," he whispered, feeling defeated. "They just look too much like our old world. Too much like the peace we had before."

Gandalf tried to use an offensive Light spell but it didn't work. It didn't even dislodge the Parasites around the humans' necks. Even in the lack of light, they could see the shiny black Parasites still firmly attached to their hosts.

"Damned Parasites," he muttered. "After feeding on their hosts, they adapted to the Light that humans naturally have. My magic is useless against them."

Reluctantly and with tears lining their eyes, the wizard and the Hobbits bared their blades and fought with their own kind. Their hearts were heavy and gained more weight with each swing of their swords. Red blood sprayed everywhere as each attacking human guard fell to the weapons of the Fellowship. The only solace they could find in their hearts as they delivered swift, painless deaths was that their fellow humans would finally be able to seek peace in the silence of death. Soon, the dark corridor saw only Gandalf, Merry and Pippin standing alive.

Like a horrible machine, a series of hideous clicking noises was heard. The Parasites had unlocked their jaws from their hosts' skulls and began to crawl and slither to them with the hungry intent of controlling them.

"Oh, I'm tired of all this fucking shit!" Pippin drew out his Light-modified gun and took aim.

"Pippin, that won't work!" Gandalf cried out.

Gandalf's warning was too late for him but it wouldn't have made a difference if he had said it or not. Each and every shot Pippin fired created a small splat of Parasite bits.

"Guns are a modern invention so the Parasites have less immunity to them," Merry said matter-of-factly. "Infused with Light magic, it was too much for the Parasites to handle."

He heard one last Parasite unlock itself from its host about three meters away from him. As quick as he could, he ran to the untangling Parasite. Using his scythe like a catapult, he jumped over a particularly large man and sliced the Parasite in half without so much as giving the body of its host a scratch.

A flash of familiarity pricked the back of his mind when he glanced at the corpse. Heart racing and hand shaking, he turned the body onto its back.

"Oh, my god," he said softly when he saw the face. He gripped his scythe tightly as he tried to hold back his tears. "Oh, God, no."

Pippin and Gandalf heard his quiet sobs and went over to see what was wrong. When Pippin saw the body, he felt his heart stop and tried to breathe but his lungs weren't working properly. Gandalf recognized the girl as well and had seen the way Pippin's eyes had followed her during the short time they were all living a regular life in high school.

"Her name was Neluni, wasn't it?" Gandalf said sadly. "If I'm not mistaken, she was in my history class with Aragorn, Legolas, Frodo and Sam."

Pippin, who had strong feelings for the dark-haired Neluni, was shaking with almost overwhelming emotions. Rage and sadness tore him apart inside with the reality of seeing the girl who had possessed his mind and heart as nothing but a corpse. The anger he tried to control finally let loose and he aimed his gun towards Merry.

"You killed her!" he screamed, tears streaming down his face. "You bastard, why didn't you look where you were aiming? She was the one who I hoped would still be alive! You knew all this and you still killed her!"

Merry's blood ran cold when he saw the barrel of his best friend's gun pointed directly at him. It was already unbearable to know that he had killed someone he knew so well, even if Neluni was now little more than a body and food source for the Parasite. He had extinguished all hope for Neluni's recovery. He was already suffering enough. Why couldn't Pippin see that?

"Pippin," Gandalf said softly and gently although his own heart was racing, "lower the gun. Think about what you're doing, Pippin. Do you want to live with the knowledge that you killed your best friend in cold blood?"

The small pistol barrel looked like the deep chasms and darkness of vengeful death to Merry. He watched, drenched in cold sweat, as the gun shook in Pippin's hand. Looking deep into his eyes, he could tell that Pippin was torn between emotions.

"Pete, don't do it, man. Don't pull that trigger," Merry said, trying as hard as he could to sound like his old self.

Pippin swallowed, not saying anything with his gun still aimed at Merry.

"Pete," he said a little louder. "Don't do it."

The gun shook violently.

"Pete!"

Like a dying storm, Pippin's rage slowly ebbed away to his grief and his gun lowered to the ground among his sobs. Tears flowed down his cheeks and splashed onto the blood-filled floor. With his whole body shaking, he set his gun back to safety and put it back in his holster.

Merry cautiously went to him, still unsure about his friend's self-control over his murderous impulses. "Pip? I'm really, really --"

SLAP.

He didn't even get to finish his sentence when Pippin's hand flew across his cheek. Gandalf wanted to say something to the both of them but couldn't find anything so he made a movement to comfort them.

"No, Gandalf," said Merry, cheek red. "I deserved it." He never made a movement, not even when Pippin slapped him, to defend himself. "I deserved it."

Silence descended on the cavern once more but strange cries came from the deepest end of the dark hall. Their ears tuned into the sound and it properly registered into their minds what the sound really was.

"Marty? Marty! Marty, is that you?" A single, hopeful voice travelled down the hall that brought back memories of an old life.

"Is that...?"

They made their way down the hall at a jog, following the sounds of the voice. They turned the final corner and saw a huge relief that also saddened their hearts. About a dozen humans were in a large cage, alive and healthy. But they could see the range of horrible scars and wounds had been inflicted on them, both physically and mentally.

"Marty! Oh, my God, Marty, it's really you!" A young girl, no younger than the Hobbits, stood close to the bars. She pushed her dirty-blonde, tangled hair out of her face, looking like she couldn't believe her eyes. "I can't believe it's you..."

"Christine..." Merry said breathlessly. "Oh, God, Christine." He reached through the bars and pulled her into a tight hug. "I thought I lost you..."

She simply hugged back and laughed with joy. She looked over his shoulder and her eyes widened with surprise.

"Pete? Mr. Whitergray? What the hell? How'd you guys get down here, anyway? And what are those?" She pointed to their weapons strapped to their sides and her dark eyes travelled to Gandalf's staff and the Horn of Gondor with fascination and confusion.

"Umm... I'll explain later, babe. What we have to do now is get all of you out of there."

"How many times have I told you NOT to call me..."

Merry quickly interrupted her and ordered the survivors to stand back from the gate while Gandalf aimed carefully with his magic staff. The pearly staff head glowed a brilliant white with the energy of the Maiar. A large ball of Light smashed into the gate's locking mechanism and shattered it to bits.

"What the fuck was that?" a man yelled out, clearly frightened by the show of magic. "Who the fuck are you people?"

"Your only hope for survival," Pippin replied bluntly. He opened the gate for them and let the survivors out. "Something will have heard that. Listen, the exit's further down the hallway. Follow it and you'll be out of this hellhole. Once you're out, hide. That is, if you don't want to get munched on by those Orcs and Neos."

"The path beyond is really a huge maze," an elderly woman said fearfully. "Only those evil creatures know the way through; we've seen them come in from there. When one of us managed to escape, they'd either get lost forever or come back saying it's hopeless to escape this damned place. Each one who came back was accompanied by one of those creatures with a story of other rooms full of other people."

"What we need is some help," said Pippin as he slung the Horn of Gondor from his back. "Should I call?"

"Yes," Gandalf said. He heard Orcish cries and Neo screeches coming for them from the Lair. "And quickly, Pippin. We'll hold off the Dark creatures here while Faramir leads them out."

The clear tones of the Horn shook the walls of stone and called upon the ancient Captain of Gondor and his men. At once, translucent tendrils of ghostly energy began to swirl out of the walls, sending chills down the spines of the survivors. Christine held Merry's hand tightly as she looked nervously at the forming spectres.

"Calm down, Christine," he reassured her, "they're just old friends of ours who will lead you – all of you – out of here safely."

The ghostly figures of Faramir and his most loyal men finally gathered together and Faramir smiled at the wizard.

"It's been long, Gandalf. My king and my brother both asked me and my men to aid you here. Oh, the Hobbits!"

"Faramir, we have no time," Gandalf said solemnly. "Take these survivors, find the other ones and lead them all through the labyrinth safely. Merry and Pippin will help me keep the Orcs and Uruks from following."

The Captain of Gondor nodded and shouted orders to his men. "Lead them through the maze! Find the others! Take out any Orc, Uruk or demon in our way! Do not lose any of the men and women we lead!"

"Marty...?"

"Don't worry, Chris." He smiled warmly at her. He saw from her eyes that the Darkness had taken some toll on her soul and felt great pity on her. The laughing light that was in her eyes had dulled considerably although there was some glimmer of light when he looked at her. "I'll come back to you. I promise you."

Without warning, she bent down and gave him a sweet kiss, causing him to go bright red. She muttered threateningly but half-jokingly, "You'd better, Bridgewater."

Faramir ushered her out of their grasp, wished them good luck and followed the group of rangers and the survivors.

"Oh! Pete! I have to tell you something!" Christine wound her way carefully around the spirit of Faramir and ran straight up to Pippin.

"What is it?"

"About Neluni... I knew she was out here when you guys had to fight them and..." She fought to hold back the tears and to keep her voice steady. "And, I just wanted to tell you that she really did like you, okay?"

Faramir, who was bound by duty, had to swipe his icy cold ghost hands through her to get her attention and made her go through the maze of tunnels.

Gandalf, Merry and Pippin had no time to dwell of what had just happened since a horde of Orcs began to come around the corner of the hallway. They fought long and hard not just for themselves and the Light, but for all the lives that still lived. By the time they had slew dozens of Orcs and made it to the threshold, they were all tired and fatigued from the hard battle. Nevertheless, Gandalf used his staff to mimic the first guard and hit the panel to close the iron gates before sprinting out of the cavern.

With no creatures of Darkness coming to kill them on the level they were on, they all stopped to catch their breaths and rest for a moment, all the while keeping a sharp eye out for any ambushes as well as for the rest of the Fellowship.

All of a sudden, Merry felt a sharp pain in his heart even though nothing touched him. He saw spirits once again, floating and darting around the cavern with their sorrowful wailing that broke his heart.

"Merry, what's wrong?" Pippin demanded, afraid that his best friend was hurt. He would be tormented with the fact that he had almost killed his best friend for the rest of his life.

"The spirits... They're sad." His eyes were unfocused as he watched them.

"Sad? Why are they sad?"

"Because... A shining Light... is dead."

--- ---

A/N: This chapter's long, hmm? Every single one of the final 5 chapters is around this long!

Anyway, someone's dead. Aside from dear, dear Neluni, of course. If you check with chapter 3, her name's actually in the list of students that Mr. Whitergray/Gandalf was trying to remember. So is Christine! But who's dead...? Could it be a member of the Fellowship? Surely not... or could it? O.o

4 chapters left.

Next chapter: The Path of Destruction.

Remember: The purple Review button is our friend.


	35. The Path of Destruction

--- ---

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli watched with panic pumping their hearts and were crouching on the floor on a lower level as the stone of the entrance platform crumbled over the Neo cage. Shrieks and horrible squeals were, mercifully, barely audible over the falling rocks. Black blood started oozing out of the pile of stone, making it look like it was bleeding.

Out of the corners of their eyes, they could see Gandalf's white cloak and staff on a higher level to their left and the glowing iridescent blue of Frodo's Sting climbing up the stairs to the beyond on their right.

Above them was a ceiling so high that they could not see it except for huge slabs of stone and looming columns. Everywhere they looked, they could see designs and architecture that were made in horrible mockery of the once-proud cultures of Middle-Earth's Free Peoples. Instead of being bathed in the glorious light of the sun that made all things beautiful, the heart of the Lair was submerged in the fiery, hellish glow of hundreds of furnaces.

One by one, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli rose to their feet, weapons firmly clasped in their hands. Everywhere around them, they heard the thundering of the Dark minions' footsteps.

Suddenly, a black arrow shot out at them from the shadows. Aragorn swerved out of the arrow's path and parried Anduril to block the next one.

A volley of arrows shot at them from the shadows on both levels. Legolas drew his bow and let fly several of his own arrows into the dark, each of his aims true to their mark. But, even with Aragorn and Gimli by his side to help block the arrows while he shot his own and those he caught, the attack forced him and his friends to back up.

Because of the dancing, confusing light of the fire, they didn't see the hole in the centre of their level that reached to the level below them. Aragorn took a step back onto nothing and fell into the hole with a yell.

"Aragorn!" Legolas dropped down to his stomach and grabbed Aragorn's arm, disregarding the arrows flying above him. He tried pulling him back up to the platform and relied on Gimli for protection from the attack. "Come on, buddy. Just hold on."

Try as he might, Gimli couldn't hold off the persistent volleys of arrows long enough for Legolas to be able to pull Aragorn back onto the platform. He had enough strength and skill to know what angle an arrow shooting at him would bounce off his sturdy Dwarvish armour so he could concentrate on repelling more of the attacks.

The ground rumbled again, making Legolas' grip on Aragorn's arm slide a few inches. Both of them looked at each other in fear while another huge thud slid Aragorn down even more.

"Legolas, whatever happens to me, just keep on going; keep fighting." Yet another vibration in the ground shook them both, leading to only a grip of their hands between them. "Oh, shit, I'm going to drop."

"No, you're not, Aragorn. Hold on." Summoning as much strength as he could, he started pulling him up, carefully avoiding the incoming arrows. "You're almost there, man. Come on."

Aragorn reached up, inches from the very edge of the platform, when he saw an imminent threat to all of them if he didn't take action.

"Legolas! Behind you!"

Looking several times bigger and menacing from Legolas' point of view, a Hunter cast a gigantic shadow across him, Gimli and Aragorn. It had several large gashes courageously made by Gimli and black arrows were sticking out of its back from its fellow demons' missed shots. Blood dripping from every orifice and off its claws, it truly looked like a creature released from the deepest depths of Hell.

Its monstrous claws, soaked in its own blood, were raised high and outstretched, ready to crush its enemies into a mass of pulp and bone.

Without thinking, Gimli and Legolas jumped sideways, away from each other. Right after he rolled and put his feet on the ground, Legolas realized what he had done with his heart stopping and quickly looked over the platform.

"Aragorn!"

He watched as Aragorn landed below and rolled to try and absorb the shock from falling almost twenty feet from his platform. The Hunter then came for him, distracting him from his dear friend. Using his Elven-warrior strength and white knives, he managed to block the Hunter's vertical attack while Gimli attempted to bring it down with his heavy two-edged axe.

The dual attack of Gimli's axe and Legolas' long, pearlescent knives successfully made the Hunter draw back for a moment, giving Legolas some time to look down to see Aragorn.

Even at such a distance, Legolas' Elvish eyes saw that Aragorn took the fall heavily, affecting his upper body the most since most of his weaponry was strapped to his shoulders, waist and back. He was looking back at Legolas, holding his left shoulder and favouring his left side while he stood. Legolas' acute hearing picked up the words he said and the Elf's eyes saw the expression on his face.

"_Namarie, mellon nin_," he whispered to Legolas with a grin. "May the Valar allow us to meet again."

Perhaps he sensed something Legolas couldn't detect but he immediately turned and ran as best as he could out of sight. His Lorien cloak swished into the shadows, leaving no trace of him for Legolas to see.

"Aragorn! ARAGORN!"

His preoccupation almost led to his death since the Hunter, enraged, rushed to attack him without him taking too much notice.

Legolas felt the rumblings beneath his feet. He heard the bellowing of the Hunter as it raced towards him with its deadly claws outstretched. He even saw the dark shadow pour across him but he did not do anything until it was barely two meters away. Only when the triumphant roar of the monster was that close did he notice and whirl around to stare in fear at it.

For a split second, he saw his widened blue eyes and terrified face in the reflection of the Hunter's own blood-red, mutated eyes. In that fraction of a second, he saw not the Prince Legolas of Mirkwood but the young boy Leo Grayfield who just let his closest friend drop into the shadows and out of reach.

Gimli, possessing a speed believed to be impossible with all his armour, came sprinting from Legolas' left side and football-tackled him down to the ground, pushing the both of them out of immediate harm's way.

The Hunter's claw came down immediately, crashing into the sold rock that separated the different levels. The stone was too strong to be cracked or damaged too much by the Hunter's blow and caught its wickedly long black claws, keeping it still while it tried to get loose.

"Don't worry about Aragorn, Legolas!" Gimli said as he pulled the Elf forcibly to his feet. "Keep your mind on more pressing matters, like that gigantic Hunter!"

"But... Aragorn..."

"... will be fine! That Man can take care of himself," Gimli snapped at him. He saw that the Hunter was just about ready to pull itself out of the stone and start on a mad attack on them. He armed himself with his trust two-edged axe and growled to Legolas, "You of all people should know and trust that insane kid enough to know that he'll be okay."

"Yeah," gasped Legolas with a weak voice. "Yeah, he'll be all right." He said with a stronger tone, "He'll be fine. You're right. He'll be okay."

"You know I'm right."

The Hunter brought down its deadly claws in a horrible hacking motion, ripping the ground up and sending great vibrations throughout the level. It was repeatedly pierced by Legolas' amazing precision with his old, trusty Lorien arrows and his own modern poison-tipped arrows. The great Hunter could feel the poison seeping through its black veins and slowing it down. It barely even felt the small Dwarf chop its leg with his axe or the fresh arrow that Legolas had let loose into its collar.

"The poison," Legolas said with a small grin, "it's working."

Just as he finished that comment, the Hunter let out one last pitiful roar and collapsed onto its knees. It remained there, glaring at the boys for a moment. It sunk lower to the ground and its eyes closed with the appearance of falling asleep.

"Is it...?" Gimli breathed. He kept a firm grip on his axe as he crept forward.

The Hunter's eyes snapped open, black blood pouring from them. In one last act of vengeance, it whipped around and threw itself into the field of wriggling pods. Its claws burst several of them but the vibration it caused when it the ground awakened many, many more.

Legolas and Gimli watched with bated breath as the first vibration sent a wave across the huge field of pods. As if to reinforce the resonance, a second wave flew across the field, completely independent of the first wave. At once, many oozing pods grew and inflated like so many grotesque, slimy balloons growing from the ground. Legolas could hear the screeching of Neos mingled with the low snarls and roars of the gigantic Hunters.

A flurry of movement beyond the field caught Legolas' eye. Trying not to think about his fear, he focussed his Elven eyes to see what it was.

"Orcs, Neos and Hunters," he said softly, "along with Uruk-Hai and Berserkers." He took a deep breath. "It has been an honour to battle alongside you, Gimli."

"It has been an honour just to be your friend, Legolas," he replied gruffly. "But you already know that."

Legolas chuckled softly, pulled back his bow and waited. Just out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw flashes of white light dance across the stone.

The Orcs and Uruk-Hai continued to march from beyond the field of pods but both Gimli and Legolas could clearly hear that all the Dark creatures were chanting a war song in complete unison. Their armour crashed with one another as they banged their fists and weapons against their chests in rhythm of their fear-inspiring song. Each crash and thundering step brought more Orcs and Uruk-Hai and led the whole army towards all the members of the Fellowship.

All the while, several pods had grown to monstrous proportions. Through the sickly translucent film that was laced with pulsing black veins, a silhouette of a Hunter was seen in each of the stretching pods. Small pods with the shadows of Neos were also growing and squirming, itching to emerge from their ungodly wombs.

The nearest Hunter pod ripped open with the sound of an explosion from the pressure the Hunter made against it. The monster opened its enormous jaws with long, razor-sharp teeth and roared a bellow that shook the ground.

In under a minute, almost a quarter of the whole field had awakened and emerged from their pods. They each let out an ear-splitting cry when they exploded from their slimy cages. Each of them had to take a fraction of a moment to realize their purpose of life and set out to do their simple task: Find the Holders of Light and destroy them in any way possible.

The Hunter nearest to Gimli and Legolas gazed upon them and immediately recognized the Light in them. With slime still dripping off its body, it started to attack them.

At once, seeing that it was going to try and attack Gimli first, Legolas rushed forward and let loose a diamond-tipped arrow into the Hunter's chest. He could hear bone and sinew break as it pierced the Hunter's body. The Hunter emitted a loud, pained cry that merely added to the chaos.

By now, the Dark creatures had been really whipped into a frenzy by the close presence of Legolas and Gimli along with the Orcs and Uruk-Hai's chants and the echoes of the cavern. The Neos relinquished what little control they had over their destructive instincts and began attacking anything that moved, be it Orc, Uruk, Hunter or Light.

Gimli side-stepped Legolas and buried his axe into a Neo's skull and chopped another attacking Neo in half with only two broad, sweeping strokes. Legolas quickly stashed his bow onto his back and whipped out his knives to join him.

Even with the powerful forces of both Gimli's incredible strength and Legolas' swiftness, they found it difficult to keep the frenzied Neos from killing them in a swarm.

Suddenly, the legendary sound of a horn rang through the Lair of Darkness. Everything halted and all sounds were silenced. The Horn sounded again, clear and brilliant as it was at Amon Hen. The rich and proud song of the Horn of Gondor heralded the ancient and forgotten city of Minas Tirith and the country of Gondor.

Ever Dark creature on that level looked around fearfully as the trumpeting of the Horn sounded again and again. The sound bounced off the walls, reaching every corner of the Dark Lair and filled the air with an other-worldly feel. It scared them. It shot a fear and intimidation in the Dark creatures that unearthed the deep memories of the Men, Elves and Dwarves of Middle-Earth. The demons wailed frightened sounds when the well-known memories of the Wars of Middle-Earth and the unbeatable courage and strength of the Free Peoples resurfaced in their collective minds.

The air grew cool and became less humid and stuffy. Ripples appeared where they couldn't have been as distant cries of an ancient tongue rang through the air. Faint tendrils crept through the ripples as if to check the environment.

Then, everything went silent. The Horn of Gondor ceased.

Another Horn answered the first call. It came from everywhere yet nowhere at once. Faint and distant at first but it grew louder with every trumpet blast it made.

Legolas and Gimli felt the sound of the Horn coming from deep inside them. They could feel the magic of Light calling and guiding their allies who they had once fought side by side with so many long millennia ago. As the Horn grew louder and louder, they could feel the spirits of Middle-Earth come closer and closer.

The ripples appeared again in every spot imaginable. Pearly wisps of ghostly energy flew out of all the ripples, yelling and chanting ancient war songs of Gondor, the Rohirrim and of all the Moriquendi, Sindarin and Calaquendi cultures of all the Elves.

Grinning and with hearts flooding with relief, Legolas and Gimli watched as the plain white wisps of energy gradually formed the beings of Men and Elves of Middle-Earth, ready to battle. They saw the dozens of different banners representing the kingdom and ruler they served under fly high in the air, caught in a wind only the spectres could feel.

The ghosts wasted no time, scattering and battling the Dark creatures as soon as they crossed the barrier between the dead and the living. Familiar armoury, weapons and methods of battle were seen everywhere on that level with the pale spirits spreading out to every corner of the Lair.

However, the new Army of Middle-Earth was driven by the magic of Light. Unlike the Dead Army of the War of the Ring, their weapons could be deflected and they lacked the ability to drain the life out of their enemies.

What resulted was an actual war between Light beings against Dark. But the demons of Darkness had one ability most of the beings of Light did not: the ability to die. Despite the fact that after the first surge of Light spirits came through the Army of Middle-Earth grew slowly, the number of Dark creatures was gradually being decreased but not fast enough.

Legolas and Gimli were doing their fair share of the fighting against the Darkness when a voice called out their names.

"Legolas! Gimli!"

They turned to face the voice to see a team of Elves rush through them to battle the group of Orcs and Uruk-Hai they were fighting. Coming up behind the Elves was an old friend, still dressed in the armour and weaponry they had last seen him in.

"Haldir of Lorien," Legolas said respectably and gave a slight bow. "You are most welcome here, my friend."

"Your welcome is most gracefully accepted and honoured throughout all Elves and Men in the Army of Middle-Earth," said Haldir, "especially the allied feelings from the Prince of Mirkwood and the great son of Gloin, Gimli the Dwarf."

Being respectful to the Lothlorien Elves for once, Gimli gave a small smile and bowed his head for a fraction of a second.

"Legolas, Gimli. Although we have no fear of death and can defeat the army of the enemy, you must help us by stopping the flow of Darkness. Watch out to your left." He helped the boys with his whirling long sword to shield them from the incoming arrows.

"What do we have to do?" Gimli asked Haldir above the noise around them. He swung his great axe into an Orc who got too close.

"You must destroy the spawning creatures in that field. In the middle is a large pool that is the food source for the whole Lair. It connects to every single pod in the field and if that is poisoned with the power of Light, we believe that it will destroy the whole field."

"What did you say?" Legolas called over his shoulder as he ripped apart a Neo with his white knives.

"We have to cross that fucking field of spawning death and use the Light to poison the shit-filled hole-in-the-ground that the Dark creatures call the food basin to kill them all!" Gimli yelled.

Legolas sharply turned to look at Haldir to confirm the order. One look from the Lorien Elf told him that it was their mission and there was little chance of survival.

"Let's go, Gimli." He grabbed the Dwarf's hood on his cloak and forced him to follow him into the field of ungodly pods.

Throughout that level were battles and scenes of war. Everywhere, there were the pale ghosts of Middle-Earth fighting mercilessly against the Dark creatures. Their silvery weapons met with black metal and pierced armour, flesh and bone. They were, in fact, exact counterparts of their bodies that had once walked the earth five millennia in the past. They reacted and moved the same way and their figures remained as they were when they swore loyalty to the rightful King of Men and the Fellowship. They even fell and obeyed the laws of gravity and science.

But the biggest differences, which turned to their advantage, were that their weapons, although spiritual, could draw blood and that the spirits were not alive or dead, so they could not die nor suffer injury.

Each swing of the weapons of Light clashed with a sword or drew the black blood of Darkness. Each attack sharpened the edge of a sword of Light as it sliced through the live sinew of Dark flesh. Soon, the level was stained with the splatter of bloody limbs, mutilated corpses and the bloodbath of Light destroying the rampant Darkness.

A team that was helping Haldir's troupe of Elves was Eomer and his group of Rohirrim. Together, they formed a formidable force that had united under the proud banners of Rohan and Lothlorien.

A Hunter, being driven to wild and powerful destruction by an Orc standing on its shoulders and commanding it, began to stomp towards Legolas and Gimli, who were desperately making their way through the field of pods. Bellowing with rage and confusion caused by the absolute noise in the echoing cavern, it made a destructive path heading straight for the two boys.

"Eomer!" Haldir shouted at him and shot a long Lorien arrow at the Hunter. "We must get it away from them!"

Gliding through the Lair on a great spirit-horse, Eomer turned about and galloped towards the Hunter. Haldir, using a trick that Legolas had previously taught him, grabbed the horse's harness and swung himself into the saddle, right behind Eomer, in one fluid movement.

To anyone who was watching, Eomer and Haldir appeared to be alive and full of energy. Their outlines seemed to become less blurred and even their equipment looked to have solidified and become real.

The spirit-horse raced across the stone, through the growing pools of black blood without a single ripple, and ploughed over any Dark creature that was in its path. As quick as the wind itself, it galloped up to the Hunter and jumped in front of it, allowing its riders to attack.

With Elvish accuracy, Haldir shot the Orc-rider squarely between the eyes, leaving nothing but a straight hole in its head. Eomer grasped his spear tightly in his hand and hurled it at the Hunter's head. These two attacks crossed each other in midair before meeting their targets at the exact same time.

A shower of blackness burst from the back of both Dark creatures' heads and poured down to the edge of the field, mingling together.

The Orc toppled off the injured Hunter with little more than a miniscule fraction of life still within it. The giant monster itself keeled over and crushed many pods with disgusting splashes of slime.

Splatters of black blood exploded and mixed with the thick, viscous sludge that kept the monsters growing. The whole mixture burst from the pods and struck the walls of stone around them. The chaos and destruction seeped into the pods and roused many more creatures from their sleep. The noise and the scent of blood lured many more Orcs and Uruk-Hai from deep within the Lair.

Legolas and Gimli were winding their way around the writhing pods, racing the reach the giant pool of bubbling mass. Their feet splashed through the overflowing residue of filth and exploded pods.

Many of the creatures in the pods uttered guttural moans as they passed and their claws reached out slowly to grab their flesh. Those that managed to break the barriers of their hellish wombs tried to follow the boys but almost always gave into the temptation of sheer madness and chaos that was war, which Legolas and Gimli were running away from. Those that resisted the temptation were easily killed by the hand of either Gimli or Legolas before the creature reached them.

As the two boys reached closer and closer to the pool in the middle of the field, the disgusting stench that pervaded the whole cavern grew stronger and stronger. When they reached the edge of the pool, they almost retched at the strength and the source of the smell.

Protruding from several places in the bubbling sludge were various pieces of rotting corpses. Humans, Orcs, Neos, Uruk-Hai, Hunters, Parasites... all of their bodies were thrown into the pool to rot and feed the growing creatures. A quick glance over the surface of the pool showed that the majority of the bodies were human. Undoubtedly, the sick and elderly or those who were unsuited to be Hosts were killed for this purpose.

The top half of a man's body was floating near the surface not too far from Legolas and Gimli. The very top of his head was above the ooze but the rest of him was completely submerged.

Under the surface, his skin was pale and sinewy, being eaten away by the acidic compound of the Dark sludge. Several of his fingers were missing as well as a large chunk from his abdomen. Muscle and white bone were clearly seen through the compound, falling off gradually and dissolving into nothing and being mixed in with the rest of the disgusting mixture. However, his face seemed most disfigured with his jaw brutally knocked halfway off his face and half his face partially dissolved by the acidity of the mixture. One of his eyelids was being eaten away and the eye was protruding out of its socket.

"Oh, God, I think I'm going to vomit," groaned Gimli. "The festering swamps of the Dead Marshes and the burning pile of Uruks Eomer made for us smelled better."

"Please don't throw up," Legolas said, trying not to throw up himself and to ignore the overwhelming smell and disgusting sights in front of him. "Watch my back, all right?"

Legolas crouched down next to the pool and let Gimli fight off any and all enemies who came. He rummaged through his pockets, desperately looking for the small, crystal vial that was so crucial to their mission. At last, after a moment of searching and four attacks from Parasites, he withdrew the Light of Earendil.

"_Aiya Earendil Elenion Ancalima_!"

In his hands, the sparkling radiance of the Light shimmered vibrantly and purified the air around them. Without being told, he knew what he had to do.

"With what grace and power that lies within me," Legolas said softly in his native Sindarin, "let the Light of this world pierce the Darkness and reclaim the life it once had!"

The little vial of starlight shot bright shafts of light from between Legolas' fingers. He pulled off the stopper on the bottle and poured out the sacred Light into the pool. Despite its size, the liquid light of the stars never stopped flowing.

The liquid sank through the sludge, slowly at first, but it began to spread quickly. The faint glowing that flickered near the bottom grew bigger and stronger by the second. In an instant, the light was shining through the compound like the sun, stars and moon combined in a dark night.

By instinct, Gimli pulled Legolas away from the very edge of the pool and watched with him as the light spread through the sludge, changing it to a crystal-clear substance. A dark mist rose from the pool as the mutilated, dissolving bodies dissipated when the Light touched and destroyed the Darkness within them. Gimli could almost hear the sighs of relief come from the souls who were trapped by the magic of the Dark Master. He watched as the mist faded and disappeared into the peacefulness of fulfilled death.

Soon, the Light overflowed from the pool and into the field of birthing pods. It flowed through the field in the pattern of a web, winding between the pods and pulsing veins. Each particle of Darkness it touched was destroyed and purified. In a matter of minutes, the absolute purity and potency of the Light of Earendil had devastated the army of the Darkness. Any Dark creature foolish enough to come into contact with it was killed almost instantly.

"Whoa," Gimli said in amazement as he and Legolas watched the wave of destruction the Light caused as it spread. "Is there any left?"

"Yeah." Legolas looked closely at the vial after he put the stopper back onto the vial. "It looks like it hasn't even been used."

The Light of Earendil was indeed still filled to the top with the power of the stars.

At the same time, they looked at the clear, harmless product of Light and the absolute destruction it left behind as it flooded over the field. They looked from the withering pods of dying creatures to the Light in Legolas' hand to the dissolving Orcs who were chased into the now-Light field back to the Light in Legolas' hand.

"Magic of the Elves," Legolas said simply with a grin. He carefully put the Light of Earendil, which was dimming itself for the moment, back into a pocket within his clothes.

They were just about to go and help the ancient Army of Middle-Earth when something dropped down from a higher level, made a tremendous splash and dissolved within two seconds of being submerged in the solution. The mist that rose from the splash swirled and disappeared in a flash.

"What the fuck was that?" Gimli yelled and searched what he could see of the upper levels.

Legolas, too, looked up and saw a glimpse of a bright, shimmering blue before he heard a familiar scream echo from deeper in the Lair. He felt his hear stop when he suddenly felt a void within himself.

"Legolas...?"

"By the Valar, no..." Without waiting, he sprinted around the clear pool, through the field and deeper into the Lair. Gimli followed close behind with his armour clanking like usual and frantically asking him who screamed since the Elf obviously recognized the voice.

"Who was it, Legolas? I could barely hear it with this thick helmet on my head. It sounded vaguely familiar but I'm not quite sure..."

Slightly out of breath, the two boys came to another opening in the ground that linked all the levels of the Lair together. They looked down and saw a sight that broke their hearts.

"Oh, God, no," Legolas said. He sank down to his knees and stared down to the level below them. "This can't be happening..."

--- ---

A/N: Not much character development, hmm? But I think TSFD needed a chapter just for destroying things, since the sudden fall of a powerful force usually isn't because it was done neat and tidily.

If you have any questions, I don't mind being asked. E-mailing me is probably the best way to get a reply, but I feel better if people reviewed. That's just me, though.

3 chapters left.

Next chapter: The Path of Redemption.


	36. The Path of Redemption

Warning: A character death.

--- ---

Sam stopped halfway up the stairs when he heard the platform crumble to pieces behind him. He turned around just in time to get a glimpse of Aragorn and Legolas gracefully rolling across the lower level onto their feet. A split second later, he heard the last of Gimli's armour crashing around.

He was tempted for a brief moment to run back down to help but he saw Frodo sprinting up the long, steep staircase and ran to follow.

They ran up the stairs, the two Hobbits chasing after the creature Gollum to the higher levels of the Lair. The staircase curled and wound its way through the tower to a floor that was two levels above the entrance where they had come through. After they stepped onto level ground, Frodo turned to face Sam.

"You don't need to follow me, Sam," he said between breaths, "I can do this myself. Go and help the others."

"I'm not leaving you, Mr. Frodo," Sam replied firmly. "I'm going to keep that promise I made to Gandalf and I'm going to see this through with you."

Frodo grinned and patted his back. "You really do take promises too literally sometimes, Sam. Let's go."

Together, with swords drawn and hands near their guns, they went through the door that they saw Gollum run through. They made their footsteps as silent as possible as they tried to feel for a source of light in the dark environment. A faint glow filtered through the windows to their right and cast a small shadow on the opposite wall.

Frodo switched the light on where the small shadow was and both boys blinked in the sudden flood of fluorescent light. They looked at their environment and struggled to describe what they saw.

"Civilized chaos," Frodo said out loud after a minute. He stepped forward on the floor made of huge slabs of stone and filled with cracks. Sam followed behind.

"It's like the halls we saw outside of that room with the broken TV, isn't it, Frodo? It's an office wall on this side but the other side of the hall gives us such a wonderful view of that bubbling field of pods. It's such a beautiful view," he said sarcastically.

He had slowed down his pace to look out one of the small patches of clear, unbroken glass and saw Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli fighting a humongous Hunter together near the pods. His hand ran over the rough, cold stone that made the railing below the windowsill.

Straight down the right wall of the hallway were the windows that overlooked the rest of the Lair. The stone was jagged but dull enough not to cut a finger by a mere touch. Flakes and chunks were obviously chipped off with poor craftsmanship but the raw power that lingered in that corridor was more than enough to create the illusion of artistic horror.

Sam drew his hand away from the railing and the mesmerizing demonic patterns that created that side of the hallway and looked at it. Flecks of dried blood, human and otherwise, stuck to his skin. He hastily wiped it all away on his pants.

Frodo was already a few meters ahead of him, still focussed on finding Gollum.

"Frodo, wait a moment!" Sam picked up his pace to catch up. "We should probably stick together since we don't know what the Lair has in store for us."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," replied Frodo. He glanced back with a grin.

Sam took a single step onto a particular slab that shifted under his weight. He exchanged nervous looks with Frodo as the ground opened up beneath him and swallowed him up.

"Sam!" Frodo dropped to the floor and looked into the rubble for any sign. "Sam!"

"I'm all right, Mr. Frodo," Sam coughed from the floor under him. "I'm not hurt. I'm not sure how to get back up there, though; this mess doesn't make a good ladder, does it?"

"No, it doesn't, Sam," sighed Frodo. "Look around. There has to be another way to get up here."

Sam coughed and tried to wave away some of the dust cloud that still hung in the air as he squinted to see beyond it. "I think there might be some stairs ahead, past that curve in the corridor."

Mutterings drifted down the hallway where Frodo was looking down to the level below. He craned his head to hear who would be there.

"… take it back, Precious. We must take it back…"

From Sam's point of view, he just saw Frodo look up like something had startled him and run off further down the hallway above him. He didn't hear the mutterings of Gollum that came from the depths of the Lair.

"Mr. Frodo! Mr. Frodo, where are you going?"

When there came no reply, he braced himself with his weapons and off into the darkness of the hall. His eyes tried adjusting to the gloom but it was taking much longer than he had liked. He walked carefully down the hall, keeping his hand touched to the left wall so he wouldn't collide into something.

His hand ran across a small crevice in the wall and he felt something soft, cold and… squishy? He felt for the wall behind it and found the light switch.

The electricity crackled and the sparks ignited the torches that lined the wall. The one above Sam shed light onto a human corpse that had its skull torn open and its face horribly disfigured. It sat propped up against the wall, slowly spilling red blood on the floor. As far as Sam could tell, the human was alive very recently until Neos and other Dark creatures decided it would be a tasty meal.

Sam looked at his blood hand and realized what the squishy mass was.

"Oh, God! Ugh!" He screamed as he wiped the blood off his hand onto the victim's clothes.

He continued walking after one last disgusted look at the corpse and noticed something that looked like it was thrown to the side from the battle. As he walked closer, he saw that it was a very battered book and he saw that it was a diary of sorts when he opened it up.

The writing inside was uneven and crooked, like the writer only had a basic understanding of writing words and literacy. However, the text told Sam that the mind behind the pen was not a child and could clearly understand what was going on.

'Humans,' it wrote. 'Endlessly multiplying, consuming, unnecessary creatures. What purpose do they serve on this earth if not to consume and destroy everything it touches? The only usefulness I can see they do is to be sufficient hosts for my comrades and me. Even then, they do not serve us for very long.

'They are frail and weak. Yet they dominate this world with an iron fist. But they cannot dominate each other. Or themselves, it seems. They are vile creatures that have bloodthirsty hearts and uncontrollable minds. What purpose do they serve?'

"This is a Parasite's mind," Sam said aloud as he read as fast as he could while walking down the hall. "At least one Parasite got strong and smart enough to figure out how to get their Host bodies to write."

'Watching these hosts perform makes me wonder what purpose there is in life. These… human beings were born by the thousands each day in a couple of populated areas only to be enslaved by the darkness of the Master's magic. My kin and I use them and Orcs to do the Master's bidding. Is that my only purpose? To enslave?

'I have moved Hosts,' it wrote with significantly different handwriting. 'This time, I feed on the memories and mind of an Orc. So far, I have depended on and killed three Hosts: an Uruk-Hai and two humans. The Uruks and Orcs have simple minds compared to humans'; they think of nothing but the pain and suffering of others and the means of achieving that pain. However, the two human minds I observed viewed many other humans as cold, heartless and brutal as the Dark creatures.

'It is amazing how some humans can see both the good and bad of their own kin while other humans delight in being in Darkness.

'As I stood guard in front of one of the prisons, I noticed a small male in the far corner of the jail cell. He seemed… almost indecisive of himself though there was nothing to decide in front of him. I watched him for a few days and he still showed the same behaviour for the great majority of the time.

'One day, he ventured towards an older female who was surprisingly calm and casual. I had observed her as well over the past few days and heard snatches of her singing.

'"How can you sing?" the male asked her. "Those scary monsters can get us anytime and eat us but you can still sing. How do you do it? Aren't you scared?"

'The young female did something strange with her mouth. The ends of it grew further apart and her lips curved up, showing her teeth. I learned from my human hosts that it was a sign of amusement and happiness.

'"It's easy," she said. "You block out everything around you and you look deep in your heart, where your favourite songs lie. You listen to them and you sing.

'"You might not be able to do it the first time because it can be hard to ignore the monsters and our cage but that is what hope is for."

'"Hope?" the male asked. "What can hope do?"

'"It keeps our spirits alive. We might not be able to do anything now but other people can and they will. Even if they don't come in time for you and me to live, it'll be okay because they'll do justice on the evilness here."

'"But we'll die! Aren't you scared?"

'"Of death? No! What's there to be afraid of? If we die, we leave this awful place and we join our families in the afterlife. Even if we die and we just… don't exist, it's okay, too. We won't feel any pain or suffering and we won't need to think about war and what happens. All we'll feel is a peace so deep that we won't need or care about what happens.

'"Do you see why I can sing in a time like this? I'm not afraid of dying because I know that I can't do anything here and I know that someone, something, sometime will come here and destroy this place. Because where there's a shadow, there must be a light nearby. So the reason why I can sing is that it's the only thing I can do right now."

'The male was listening to her as intently as I was. He sat closer to the young female and just said this: "Teach me a song, please?" Her lips curved up again and taught him a soft song.

'I destroyed another Host. I received another human, to my disgust. Ever since I heard the female's words, I can't accept a human Host because I learned of their purpose and the purpose of life, though I suspect it is only a fraction of its purpose. Humans are a perfect balance of good and evil as a whole though they practice more evil without knowing it. Life itself is a balance of good and evil and war is the result of it.

'I cannot bring myself to control this Host any longer. I have begun losing integral control. I know that I will soon be executed since I have voiced my beliefs to several of my kin. I can hear the footsteps of death coming.

'I have done many wrongs and taken many lives. May the wings of Light swiftly come to bring balance to the world.'

The scrawl stopped there. Embedded on that page was the severed tip of a Parasite's tentacle. Sam was a few feet from the bottom of the stairs when he found the tentacle bit and looked back down the hall to see the mangled corpse beneath the light switch.

He listened carefully for any sound of trouble from the above level and heard none.

"I'll only be a quick second," he whispered and sprinted back to examine the corpse.

The flickering light of the flames cast the mangled corpse into sharp relief. It lay slumped on the ground below the light switch and torch with its palms up and head down, like it simply surrendered with little resistance. It was hard to tell but Sam could just make out the lethal blow of an Orc dagger at the jugular. He could just see the bottom of the deadly wound and quickly surmised that the dagger was only the beginning of the Host's death of the soul.

Just beside the corpse were the shattered remains of the Parasite martyr. The tentacles were ripped apart from its body or missing. The main body part had been crushed with a swift blow, splattering the black blood across the hallway walls and mingling with its Hosts'.

Sam stood at the feet of the remains of the unknown human and the Parasite in silence. With the journal held tightly in his hand, he said a quiet prayer for both souls. "May they find the salvation and forgiveness they both deserve."

A faint scream echoed through the deserted halls from above.

"Frodo!"

He tucked away the journal and sprinted to the stairs and to the upper level. He looked down both ways of the hall for any clue to where Frodo had gone. He saw a narrow strip of red light come from the far left side and ran to that room.

While Sam was making his way through his level, Frodo had tried to follow the sounds of Gollum's ramblings. He relied on Sam's tracking abilities to reunite with him alive. All he wanted to do now was to find Gollum.

He tightened his grip on Sting and rose from the ground. It faintly registered that Sam was calling him from under him but he ignored it and set down towards Gollum's mutterings.

His Hobbit feet tread silently through the stone hallway as he walked as swift as a shadow along the wall. Every now and then he would take a quick glance at Sting to make sure that Orcs weren't around. Luckily, it never once shimmered blue on his trail to Gollum.

"…we must, Precious, we must. It is ours and we wants it back, we do…"

Frodo followed his voice down the hall, disregarding the red letters of rage written on the walls. His large blue eyes glinted with an anger that was buried within him for thousands of years. Gollum had caused him so much pain, so much torture in his soul. Gollum had given him so many scars in his mind and so many bad memories and feelings. Gollum needed to pay for his deeds.

Frodo crept towards the slightly opened door at the end of the curving corridor and peeked inside to see if he was there.

And there he was, huddled on a small rise of stone by the side of the room, rocking back and forth with his bony knees tightly drawn up to his chest. His long, scrawny hands were balled up tightly in fists that dug his fingernails into his palms. Blood dripped down from his hands and trickled down his legs to the stone floor. With his head down, the creature Gollum, or Smeagol at the time, looked like he was crying tears of blood.

"We must takes it back, my love. Yess. We must takes it back so Smeagol will be happy. This is what Smeagol wants. We needs to takes it back from the Hobbitses, yess.

"Takes it back, takes it back? We can't takes it back!" Gollum broke out of his huddle and leapt to one of the several mirrors that lay around the room. "The nasty Hobbitses will never let us take it back, Precious. We must take the other thing we had in our minds. We must! Only then will Gollum be happy."

"We can't, we can't!" Smeagol put his hands on his head in frustration and smeared his blood onto his skin. "Looks at what we did! Master will shame us for what we does, he will! Master hurts us and won't let go. We must… we must…"

"This blood that we see is because of the nasty Hobbitses! The nasty Hobbitses and their Fellowship and scary Elveses sent us here. It's their fault! They need to know the pain that we felt here, the pain of the Dark Master."

"The pain… the pain…!" Smeagol ran on all fours and huddled in the corner only to begin rocking back and forth once more. "All we knows is pain…" He started to sob into his knees, not knowing that Frodo was at the doorway, listening to his conversation with himself. "All we remembers is pain and torture… All because of the Precious, it is. It is!"

"Smeagol?" Gollum asked fiendishly between sobs. "Smeagol? Why does it cry, Smeagol? Why does it cry when the thief is right before our eyes, alone and suspicious? Can you tell us why, Precious?"

"The thieves…?"

Smeagol's lapse of control proved to be disastrous for Frodo. Gollum seized control of their body and glared at him for a split second before dashing at him with his bloody hands outstretched. Frodo fell backwards from the blow and immediately felt two gangly hands grip tightly around his neck.

"You stole it from us! Horrid Baggins stole the Precious from us and he will feel the pain it caused us!"

Frodo had dropped Sting when he fell but was now much stronger than he had been on the slopes of Mount Doom. With one quick punch to the head, he got Gollum to release the murderous grip on his neck. He gathered as much strength as he could and pushed Gollum away.

Gollum's light frame was a disadvantage to him now since Frodo had gained so much more physical strength through reincarnation. He flew across the room, hit a table and crashed into one of his mirrors, shattering it to pieces.

He looked at all the pieces scattered on across the floor, each reflecting a different angle of himself. He could see the rage and malice that corrupted and possessed him snarling and leering back at him, angering him even more. Among all the shards of the mirror, all he saw were the pain and madness that he believed Frodo had caused him. He didn't see the reflection of a tired, restless soul inside him and snatched the largest piece of jagged mirror he could find.

Disregarding the stinging feelings in his slashed hands and feet, he ran back to Frodo, who was coughing and reaching for Sting, with his mirror shard poised and ready to drive itself straight into Frodo's heart.

Frodo was so close to reaching his beloved sword but quickly rolled away from it when he saw the glint of the mirror shard rushing down upon him. He rolled onto his feet only to have Gollum jump up and try to stab his eyes. He backed away fast enough to avoid being blinded but suffered a vertical slash biting the skin across his right eye.

"Aaahh!" Frodo screamed and clutched his eye in pain. He struggled to wipe the blood out of his eye but more kept flowing down from his wound.

Seeing that he had blinded Frodo in one eye, Gollum leapt onto the table and jumped onto Frodo to try and injure his other eye, causing him more pain.

Even with just one eye and almost no depth perception, Frodo stopped Gollum's attack inches from his face. He tried throwing Gollum off of him again but he could feel the rage fuelling his opponent's actions, giving him more strength. The jagged edge of the mirror shard glistened ominously at him mere inches from his functioning eye.

Both of them were shaking, trying to best the other in this battle of strength. It was everything Frodo could do to keep Gollum's shaking sliver from killing him. Gollum, using his madness to summon more strength, managed to push his weapon closer and closer, weakening Frodo's own strength.

At last, Frodo used Gollum's momentum against him and swung him off like using a catapult. He watched Gollum crash into the table that was sitting in the middle of the room. As quick as he could, he ran and took Sting into hand once again.

Without his weapon, Gollum was helpless against Frodo's Sting but he was having trouble getting up from the rubble of the broken table.

Frodo raised his arm, ready to kill Gollum once and for all, when Sam came rushing in.

"Mister Frodo! No!" Sam held Frodo's arm back just as he was bringing Sting down in an arc.

"Sam, get off of me! This wretched creature is why we lost everything in the past. He's the reason why we didn't return to the Shire, Sam! He is why I'm still, to this day, being tortured about what I didn't do and why I can feel the Darkness so close to my heart. The bastard needs to die!"

"Don't you understand, Frodo?" Sam gripped his shoulders and looked straight into his eyes. "That was the Ring. It got to you and the little Stinker that he is. It got to everything that it touched but it's gone now. It can't hurt you or anybody else anymore."

"You're wrong, Sam. I can still feel it wrapped around my soul." He put his hand to his heart. "It still hurts."

"Then Hobbit Master understands what Smeagol wants, doesn't he?"

Smeagol lay in the pile of broken wood, looking more tired than either Hobbit had ever seen him. He was looking at them with a desperation that had been growing in his mind for years.

"The Hobbit Master feels it. He feels the effects of the Precious even though the Precious is gone." He spoke with a low, weary voice. "Smeagol feels it, too. Smeagol hates it. Smeagol hates the Precious. Smeagol… Smeagol doesn't wants to feel it anymore. Smeagol takes it back from the fat hobbit, we does."

"Take it back?" Sam echoed, clearly confused. His hand strayed to the sword on his belt. "What're you taking back from me?"

"All the nassty things Smeagol has said to you," he replied. He climbed out of the broken table. "All the things… we has done… we takes it all back."

"No!" Gollum snarled and tried to retake control.

"Yes!" Smeagol showed incredible strength of character as he resisted the murderous urges of Gollum. "We takes it back… especially what we said to the fat Hobbit on Mount Doom, we does."

Sam stared at him for a moment, struggling to organize in his mind what memories were real and what he could understand in the chaos of Mount Doom. He remembered the fire, the struggles and the despair they had faced as clearly as he could remember Rosie Cotton dancing. Suddenly, he remembered the words that Smeagol had spoken to him.

"You begged me to let you live," he said slowly. "You said that you'd die anyway when the Ring was destroyed and I spared you life."

"But we're lost!" Smeagol wept. "We're still lost because death has lost us. Master understands the weariness we feels. Master knows that we wants to end the pain." He crawled to Frodo's feet. "Master knows that there is only one way to end this pain."

Frodo's throat closed and he swallowed hard. He knew what had to be done if he and Smeagol could be free but he suddenly felt unsure if he could do it.

"Gracious, nice Hobbit Master always trusted us," Smeagol hissed as softly as he could, "and Master shares our pain. Hobbit Master knows… He knows that Smeagol must die if we can have peace."

Sam's eyes widened when he heard this. "Frodo, you're not really going to kill him, are you?"

A battle of ethics and passions was happening in Frodo's mind. His dark side yearned for him to kill Smeagol for the horrible torture he had to endure but he knew that it wouldn't solve anything. The modern beliefs that every life should be lived and let alone until natural death took them kept rising in his mind but what good was that belief if Smeagol wanted to die after millennia of slavery?

Even as these thoughts were running through his head, Frodo could see that Smeagol had changed. He had apologized for every wrong that he had committed against them and he wasn't attacking them.

At that moment, the air seemed to purify around them and a bright, pure light shined from the large empty space of the wall. Frodo immediately recognized it as the Light of Earendil being unleashed upon the forces of Darkness. On the far side of the Lair, he could see the reflections of the pool dancing.

"I will not kill you, Smeagol," Frodo choked out. "But know that you have redeemed yourself in mine and Sam's eyes. We cannot take your life now that you achieved redemption."

"Hobbit Master… forgives us?" Smeagol looked at him with disbelieving, bulbous eyes. "Fat hobbit, too?"

Both boys nodded.

"Smeagol, come." Frodo wiped away some of the blood trickling down his eye and led him to the edge of the room. He looked down at the crystal-clear pool of Light-infused liquid and pointed to it for Smeagol. "Do you see that, Smeagol?"

Smeagol peered over the edge and nodded.

"If you really want to be at peace, you must touch the Light liquid. Because you've been serving the Darkness for so long, it will send you straight into Death's arms." Frodo kept a steady voice and a straight face as he said this but was trying to keep his emotions from breaking loose as he sent Smeagol to his death.

Smeagol stared at the pool below with great relief and happiness. He turned to look at both boys with happy tears streaking down his face. "Thank you, Hobbitses."

He jumped and fell, directly towards the purified pool. Frodo and Sam watched his splash, disintegrating his body in seconds and saw the fine mist that rose from the surface of the pool. Both of them believed that they could actually hear Smeagol sigh in tremendous relief as he was taken away by Death's swift wings.

"May he rest in peace for all eternity," Frodo said lowly.

Sam nearly made Frodo fall off the edge when he saw the Sting was glowing blue and fired a few rounds into three Uruk-Hai that happened to come into the room. He apologized profusely and quickly began to tie his hithlain rope for the two of them to climb down to a raised precipice on the level below.

It was then when they heard the piercing scream that was heard throughout the Lair and even affected the Dead.

"What was that?" Sam frantically asked Frodo. "Do you think it might've been one of the others?"

"God, I hope not," Frodo replied darkly. "Though I wouldn't be all too surprised…"

He took hold of the rope first and climbed down the vertical rock wall first, all the while trying to see who had screamed. He saw Legolas and Gimli running towards a giant hole in the ground like a horde of Dark creatures was behind them.

"I think it came from below this level," Frodo called up to Sam. "It obviously wasn't Legolas or Gimli."

They climbed down as fast as they could and ran to their friends to see if they could locate the source of the scream. They looked down into the lower level to barely make out two figures on the floor. Frodo could see who they were and knew that Legolas could as well.

"Oh, no…"

--- ---

A/N: As an added bonus, here are the lyrics of Pippin's Song in RotK:

Home is behind  
The world ahead  
And there are many Paths to tread.  
Mist and shadow  
Cloud and rain  
All shall fade  
All shall…  
Fade.

Muahaha! Go RotK: Extended Version!

By the way… I don't think suicide and assisted suicides are okay. I just needed the method for it to be all dramatic and such. And I don't think that Gollum/Smeagol is evil! He just needs some serious psychiatric help, that's all.

2 chapters left.

Next chapter: Path of the Past.


	37. The Path of the Past

Warning: Just… be prepared.

--- ---

Aragorn watched the attack of arrows come down around him, Legolas and Gimli like a torrent of black rain. He and Gimli parried and blocked most of the arrows as they put their faith in Legolas' deadly archery skills.

Arrows flew around his ears, filling his hearing with the whistles they made as they grazed past his head. Each arrow that flew towards him came closer and closer to biting into his skin. He took a tentative step backwards and continued to repel the arrows.

He felt his two friends follow suit, carefully dodging the arrows as they stepped backwards to slowly get out of range of the enemies' attack.

The shadows above him on the carved rock of the high walls danced and flickered, flashing warning signs of lethal swords and bows. Even the shadows, forms born from the absence of light, were telling him that they were surrounded. They were in the middle of hell.

Then, he took a step back onto nothing but air.

He felt his heart freeze in his chest as he felt himself falling into the gaping hole that none of them had noticed. He heard himself scream though he made no effort to do it. Likewise by instinct, his arm shot up in a futile attempt to reach the edge of the platform.

"Aragorn!"

Legolas appeared at the edge of the platform and grabbed his arm. Only once before had he seen Legolas' face with such fear and determination etched in his eyes. It had been years, but he could remember it clearly even though he knew Legolas had long forgotten. The memory forced itself into Aragorn's mind.

The two of them were mere children; no older than three years old. Yet they had somehow climbed to the highest point of the roof of Aragorn's house. He could still remember how windy that day was.

"Wow," he had said in awe, "you can see the whole world from here!"

"Are you sure we can be up here, Aaron?" Leo was sceptic. Even as young as three, he was looking out for his best friend. He had amazing balance, especially for a three-year-old, and he felt perfectly fine on the roof but he was more concerned about Aaron. "Maybe we should get down from here."

"Aw, come on, Leo! You can see our dads' building from here! Can you see it over there?" He pointed out to the skyscraper in the downtown sprawl.

Leo nodded a bit, uncertainty filled in his eyes. Something about those eyes always got to Aaron, making him feel guilty for whatever he had done.

"Okay, fine," Aaron sighed exasperatedly. "Let's get down from here. We can play in my room."

All signs of worry vanished from Leo's face as he nodded. But that relief was quickly replaced by fear when the young Aaron slipped on the tiles and fell off the roof.

In a feat only a yet-to-be Elvish prince warrior could perform at age three, Leo had dove from near the top of the roof and snatched Aaron's hand, stopping him from falling two very tall stories onto the ground.

"Hold on, Aaron," begged Leo. "Hold on."

The frightened expression that was written across Leo's face had etched itself into Aaron's memory and made him vow, as Leo called at the top of his voice for help, that he would never let himself do something so stupid as to make his closest friend feel that scared again.

And yet, Aragorn was staring at that same face more than a decade later among the fires of Darkness.

"Come on, buddy," Legolas said as he tried pulling him up. "Just hold on."

The ground above Aragorn rumbled, shaking both him and Legolas and loosening their grip. He felt his hand slide and grip Legolas' wrist. He stole another glance at Legolas and regretted seeing the pain in his eyes. Another thunderous rumble shook through them again, sliding him down even further.

The two boys were barely holding on as Aragorn looked down at what he was going to be falling into.

A sheer drop of at least twenty feet awaited him if they let go of each other. The dancing light of hidden flames flared across the floor under him and stopped him from being able to accurately guess what lay in the shadows for him. But he knew that he had to drop if they were to see each other alive again.

"Legolas," he called up to the Elf, "whatever happens to me, just keep on going; keep fighting." Another violent vibration shook through their connection and Aragorn's grip slid down even more. Now, he was only hanging on to Legolas' hand.

He took another glance down at the lower level. "Oh, shit, I'm going to drop."

"No, you're not, Aragorn. Hold on." With tremendous determination, Legolas began to pull him up back onto the platform. Arrows flew past them, narrowly missing. "You're almost there, man. Come on."

With his free arm, Aragorn reached to touch the edge of the platform which was mere inches from his fingertips. Suddenly, he could see what was making the ground shake and it was about to rush out and attack them all.

"Legolas!" he yelled out. "Behind you!"

He saw the Hunter's huge shadow cast over all three of them and felt Legolas immediately let go of him, letting him drop into the level below.

Aragorn fell feet first to the level below. He could actually feel gravity yanking him down from the rest of the Fellowship, deeper into the Lair. The air whistled through his ears as he tried to prepare himself to land on the ground, which was rapidly rushing up to meet him.

He tried to soften the landing by absorbing some of the shock in his legs but his left foot slipped on the hard rock and he was forced to bounce once on the stone before being able to use his momentum to safely roll onto his feet.

He lay there for a few seconds to register which parts of his body were in pain. His left shoulder was screaming with a pain that numbed his entire arm. Slowly, he looked at it and, judging by the irregular angle his arm was being held, knew that he had dislocated his shoulder.

Groaning, he slowly got to his feet. The left side of his body was throbbing from the fall. He looked up at the giant, gaping hole he had fallen from and realized that he was either very skilled or had extremely dumb luck.

Legolas' figure appeared at the edge of the platform again in the midst of sounds of battle. Aragorn smirked, knowing that it could very well be the last moment they saw each other.

"_Namarie, mellon nin_," he said softly. "May the Valar allow us to meet again."

Holding his left shoulder, he turned his heel and ran as best as he could through the shadows of his level. He could hear Legolas yelling his name through the giant hole that was becoming further and further away.

He felt the ground under him slope down as he ran through the darkness. The shadows pressed around him and blinded him of all sight. As an instinct, he tried feeling for the wall and felt a surge of pain flare in his dislocated shoulder.

Biting back his screams, he made his way to the wall and held his shoulder to see how badly it was damaged.

"… Elessar…"

Aragorn gasped in surprise. His eyes struggled to see in the darkness just who was whispering his forgotten name.

"… Elessar… King of Men…"

He felt a sudden icy chill run through his blood. The whispers carried with them an element of dread, hatred and sorrow as they called him into the darkness. He could almost feel the warmth of the air around him disappear.

"Come… If you wish to know… If you wish to dare…"

Aragorn pushed himself from the wall in agony from his shoulder. He weighed his options in his mind. If he could pop his arm back into his shoulder, he could do more damage but ran the risk of severely damaging his own shoulder. But, if he left it, he could be at a huge disadvantage and in considerable pain though his arm would sustain relatively less damage.

Tightening his jaw, he clutched his arm with his good hand.

He counted under his breath to prepare himself. "One… two… three!"

CRACK. He jerked his left arm with enough force to pop it back into its socket and felt as if his whole arm was on fire. The burning feeling shot through his arm straight down to his fingertips. It was all he could do to swallow the urge to let out a scream.

As the immediate pain ebbed away, he twitched his fingers and began to follow the voice down the lightless corridor. Again, he reached for the wall and followed it with considerably less pain. The whispers gradually grew louder and stronger as he ventured through the shadows.

"Fabled King of Gondor…" The voice seemed distorted somehow and echoed in the vast hallway. It seemed to speak to Aragorn from every angle around him. "Last in a long line of Numenoreans… descended from the Faithful… Ally of the Elves… Enemy of all Darkness…

"Yet you come… to my Lair… accompanied by spirits from the past world and friends that are old and new..."

"Your Lair?" Aragorn repeated to shadows. "This is YOUR Lair? Are you the one who the demons call the 'Dark Master'?" He was running now that he knew he was close to being face-to-face with the real enemy.

"Yes… I am… Welcome… to the very core of the Darkness!"

The ground levelled out suddenly below Aragorn's feet into a smooth, polished floor reminiscent to one from a throne room. The shadows retreated into the walls when he stepped into the circular room.

"Take a good look at this room, Elessar… It will become your home…"

Aragorn scowled. The thought of living within the very core of the Darkness sickened him. He could sense the shadows lurking inside the walls by some wicked magic. He could feel their excitement and their anticipation by his presence and he didn't like that feeling at all.

"It is fit for a king, is it not?" The Master's voice still surrounded him.

"Are you referring to the room or how I am to be executed?" Aragorn asked coolly. He stood rather casually but carefully unlatched Anduril with the flick of his left thumb. "Well?"

"… Both… I suppose," came its reply.

"It's interesting, to say the least." He walked around the large mosaic that was embedded in the centre of the room. It depicted both the sun and the moon being eclipsed by shadows and it was bordered with figures of Orcs and Uruk-Hai in their prime, destroying pieces and beings of Light. It was painstakingly detailed and hauntingly beautiful.

As Aragorn walked around the mosaic, he marvelled at how symmetrical and chaotically perfect the pattern was. It seemed that everything, including the eclipsed sun and moon, revolved around the very centre of the pattern. A glimpse of something glittering embedded in the middle caught his eye.

"I see… that you are interested by the pattern," the Master said to him as he walked to the middle.

Aragorn said nothing. He looked down at the symbols that were shining at him like they were glowing. Elvish and English letters surrounded a single symbol that was in the dead centre of the entire room.

"Anar, Isil," he read. "A, F, E, W. Representing the Sun, Moon, air, fire, earth and water, they sit eternally around one thing. Am I correct?"

"Yes… All things obey and heed the Darkness… All things are conquered by the Shadows. You are near your end, Elessar, King of Men and Holder of Light."

Aragorn could feel the shadows held in the walls move around him. The columns that stood at regular intervals along the circumference seemed to emanate a cold and evil power that surged through the entire room, focussing on the mosaic pattern.

"You… will… be defeated… by the Darkness."

"Never!" He drew Anduril from its sheath and prepared himself to fight.

The shadows poured out of the walls like dark water from a dam and disappeared under the floor. As they swam through the stone, they chilled and darkened the very air in the room.

They embodied the dark border of the giant mosaic in the floor, making the pattern pitch-black. Slowly, figures of the Orcs and Uruk-Hai rose up from the stone floor like the demons of Hell had risen to the realm of the living from underground.

Horrified, Aragorn saw that these Orcs and Uruk-Hai had no body. Instead, they were merely shadows that took the form of the creatures. There was no doubt in his mind that the damage they would cause was deadly real even though they were shadows.

"Why do you resist? What… are you still holding onto? The past? The future? Or your feelings you call good emotions?

"Are they still good when they come from what you call… bad things? Is happiness still good when it comes… from seeing someone sad? Is killing bad… when the animal is sick? Or when you need to eat? Is love right if it hurts other people aside from the lovers?

"What is it… that you fight for that does not yield to the Darkness?"

Again, Aragorn stayed silent. The shuffling of the materialising shadows was all he could afford to focus on if he were to win this fight. He worried if the strength that he had would be enough to defeat the bodiless creatures that stood before him. He watched as the first line of shadows drew their weapons and leered at him hungrily with their empty eyes.

"You will… be defeated by the Darkness. The Nine Holders of Light… they shall be no more. The Dark shall triumph over Light as a new Age ushers in… greater and more powerful than all the Ages!" the Master proclaimed, its voice echoing in the circular chamber. "Soon, it shall be the Shadow Age!"

"That," Aragorn said clearly, "will never come to pass."

Anduril matched the ferocity of its swordmaster as it sliced through the air and the beings of shadow. It tore through the shadows with such fierce energy that any shadow it attacked dissolved into pieces.

But, the magic and force of the ancient sword was not enough. The shadows returned to the walls and stone, adopted the shape of an Orc or Uruk-Hai once more and attacked Aragorn again, creating a constant wave of unbeatable Darkness.

Aragorn could feel his muscles aching from the energy he had spent already, battling in the Lair. The shadows were relentless and his shoulder was beginning to hurt from using it too much. He knew he was not going to win if he kept this rate up. He needed something to defeat the shadows in one big attack.

"It is… futile, Elessar," the Master called to him. "Give up. It is hopeless."

"You forget my name," he called to it. "I am Estel, hope of the West."

He quickly drew out his gun and fired a shot towards the wall and let the trail of golden light from the magic enhancement of Gandalf illuminate the chamber. The shadows in the bullet's immediate path were instantly vaporized and left him a small trail to the wall.

Aragorn resisted the shadows' call and put Anduril back into its sheath. As quickly as he could, he assembled one of his bombs from his pocket. He purposely reached for the smallest one he had and fused the detonator to it.

His hands were covered in blood from the scratching and clawing of the shadows' hands. They moved much more slowly than the real Orcs and Uruk-Hai but the bone-chilling fear they caused with their cold, lifeless hands were a match to any weapon that the monsters had.

The blood from Aragorn's hands had covered his bomb but he hoped that it wouldn't be a factor when he timed the detonator and threw it towards the mass of black shadows. Finally tearing away from the grasping hands, he bolted to the nearest column to try to escape the blast.

The detonator ignited, triggering the explosion. The shadow beings seemed to melt and dissipate when the light from the bomb illuminated the entire chamber. The explosion was strangely muffled but still shook the room and created large cracks in the floor. Around the columns, rocks and dust covered the floor as the shockwave was absorbed by the stone of the room.

Aragorn was surprised and impressed. He had used a technologically-advanced bomb in a room that, although cavernous and full of echoes, was made of stone and what looked like plaster. It should have crumbled. But it only sustained minor damage.

But what really caught him off his guard was how bright the light was. A normal bomb would explode in a normal red-orange flame. Nitroxide fuelled explosions ignite blue-green flames. His bomb gave off a yellow-orange light; much brighter than his other bombs that were of the same make. So, what made this one different?

"I… liked that." The Dark Master's voice rang through the room again. It seemed louder than it had been before. "In truth, I did not expect you to defeat my Shadow Warriors."

The ringing in his ears muffled his enemy's voice a bit but Aragorn understood its message and got to his feet. "Never underestimate the Light and its powers."

"Yes, yes," drawled the Master, like it had heard the speech about Light many times before. "The Light and the powers of love, kindness and charity. I know my enemy and its weaknesses. Do you know your enemy and their weaknesses, Elessar?"

Aragorn stayed silent for a third time. He sensed that another force was coming; something more powerful and dangerous. He drew Anduril again from its sheath and faced the door that he had overlooked since it was near a column. He could feel it coming closer and readied himself to fight.

The door slid open and the sudden light from the fiery blazes from the rest of the Lair temporarily blinded Aragorn's eyes. He waited for his eyes to adjust and for the Dark Master to act first.

"I have studied you humans for some time now," said the Master. Its voice came from the door and faint footsteps were heard as it came into the room. "Biologically, you are frail and weak; an unworthy match for one of my minions if both were weaponless. But your intellect surpasses all other animals' on this pitiful planet and you rule as supreme beings.

"Your strengths as humans are many but they are also your weaknesses."

The door stayed open but his eyes had adjusted accordingly as the Dark Master spoke. To Aragorn, it seemed to be made of a cloak and a small body that was hidden by the billowing cloth that surrounded it. On first glance, he would have said that it was a Ringwraith but the menace and utter chaos that he could feel the Master represented was paralleled to none. Underneath the warped calm and confidence, he could feel the power and destruction that it could cause the world if the Fellowship disappeared.

"Humankind's biggest strength and weakness," continued the Master, "is that force you call 'love'. It unites individuals but it also destroys many others. It seems that the more Light one embodies, the stronger the force of love destroys.

"Are you confused? You, of all people, Elessar, should know what love destroys. Men waste their lives destroying the earth in the name of love and loyalty to their kingdom. But what good is that love when the kingdom no longer exists?

"However, the Elves were the most vulnerable to the pains of love." It watched Aragorn's reaction to its words. "I see it in your eyes: the regret, the wonder of what happened in the past. You know what happens to them if their hearts are broken, Elessar. Tell me what happens."

Trying not to let his voice shake, Aragorn spoke. "They die."

The Master let out an evil laugh that chilled Aragorn to his bones. The sound of its laugh was cold and hard like a bitter snowstorm in the winter that cuts the skin and tears at the heart.

"Most Elves do," chuckled the Master. "This one does not." It stepped aside without making a single sound and revealed its final warrior and ultimate weapon against him.

"No," he whispered with his eyes wide with devastation.

Aiden, the reincarnation of Arwen, stood in front of him. She looked almost exactly as she did when he had seen her last when the city was unharmed. But the air which she carried herself was completely different.

She was wearing what looked like a torn and sheared dress that was dyed a deep, rich red and was made to her precise fitting and ended at a slant from her hip to her knee. Because the dress had been torn and reassembled into a sleeveless, torn-v-neck fashion, she wore the tattered sleeves just above her elbow and left the frays loose to distract her enemies' eyes. Her dark and ripped jeans hung a little loosely from her waist and they, too, were sheared at the bottom like the dress. Her hair was tied back in a high ponytail, showing her pointed ears and confirming her identity.

"Do you not believe your eyes, Elessar?" The Master taunted him, knowing how much it was torturing him. "Can you not see that even Elves can be turned to be allies of the Darkness? The proof is standing in front of you."

"You fucking bastard!" Aragorn screamed at it.

"Language, Elessar. I offer you a deal. You and your beloved can live together in a state you called happiness but on one condition."

Aragorn used all his self-control to hold back his tongue and his sword. Somewhere in his mind, he could feel that something was wrong. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw something shiny in Arwen's hand.

"The only thing I ask of you… is that you join the Darkness. Lay down your arms as a Holder of Light and fight with me. Together, with your beloved Arwen, we can create a world of freedom; one where passions and desires are within the reach of every living being in this world. Join me."

"And if I don't?" Aragorn said, barely audible. He never left the Master's gaze and found it hard to control the loathsome hatred he was feeling.

The Master paused, causing the air chill even more as it drew its breath. "Death and suffering shall fall upon you."

Aragorn had expected that answer. He wanted nothing more than a peaceful and loving life shared with Arwen but couldn't stand idly by as the human race was being slaughtered and enslaved. He had promised the Fellowship and the force of Light that he would fight the Darkness until the end of his days and he was not going to break his resolve now that he was so close to fulfilling that promise.

"I would gladly accept to die if the only other choice was to join the Darkness," he said coldly to the Master. He raised Anduril to an attacking position and his youthful energy and attitude returned. "Bring it on."

"… Very well. You have chosen your doom." The Master disappeared in front of his very eyes.

After a split second of confusion, he discovered what Arwen had been holding so elusively in her hand. The curved blade of the sword was thrust at him with deadly accuracy. Fortunately, the movement of her frayed sleeves had caught his eye and he had reacted quickly enough to block the attack with his own sword.

He stumbled backwards, stunned that she was actually attacking him. She was moving with the grace and agility of the Elves as well as a fighting style that was a blend of Rivendell and Lothlorien battle; something unique that also distinguished Arwen from other Elves.

She ran at him twirling her sword in the way all Elves did with the s-shaped blades that was associated with their race. With incredible strength and agility that she had obviously not acquired from this lifetime, her sword sliced through the air, eager to taste his blood.

Aragorn blocked Arwen's attacks to the best of his ability and received many shallow wounds but made no effort to return her aggression. He looked into her eyes that were once filled with the light of the stars she carried in her name but was dismayed to see a void of nothingness that shadowed her mind.

Their swords rang and echoed in the cavernous chamber. Two swords of equal strength, power and agility clashed in horrible tones when they should have been together in peace rather than in chaos and war.

Suddenly, Arwen's sword was raised above Aragorn, ready to defeat him. The fastest reaction he could muster barely got the flat of Anduril's blade in the path of it and gave him an opportunity.

"Arwen!" He called her name to her desperately. "Arwen, stop fighting! It's me, Aragorn! You don't have to fight!"

He stole a look at Arwen's sword and realized what it really was. The curved blade was truly the work of the Elves but the sword itself had been fashioned into a weapon of Darkness. It still contained the s-shape of the entire sword but the engravings of the Elvish vines and leaves were replaced by Mordor-like spikes of poison weed and the Sindarin inscriptions that had been on the original had been replaced by a form of writing that he assumed was Dark Speech. The entire sword was in mockery of the races of Light, especially the Elves, when it was wielded by Arwen.

"Hadhafang," muttered Aragorn when he recognized the original make.

"Wrong," she said with a trace of contempt and a sneer. She pushed hard at him and twirled her sword again, making him back away further to the wall. "This is MY sword, not Elrond's. This is more powerful since it carries Darkness instead. This is known as Hadhacalach, Light-Cleaver."

"Arwen, please!" Aragorn begged her to stop as she attacked again and again. "You don't know what you're doing!"

"I know exactly what I'm doing," she said dangerously. Her eyes were deep voids that surrounded and drew its power from surging rage and the pain of despair.

Their swords clashed again, cold metal with Light and Dark as their masters. This time, the Dark overpowered the Light and Anduril was wrenched out of Aragorn's hand and clattered out of the domed chamber. The metal rang with such clear tones as it slid out into the Lair that it seemed like it was calling Aragorn in desperation to pick it up again.

The tapered point of Arwen's sword was thousands more dangerous to Aragorn now that he lost his own sword. He kept a careful and fearful eye on it as he tried reasoning with the Elvish princess.

"Arwen," he said gently, trying to use the soft tones he used with her in the past, "why are you so angry? Why do you thirst to see my body stripped of all life? You surrendered yourself to the Darkness because of a lingering hatred for something that belongs to Light. What made you so angry?"

She glared at him and sliced her sword again. She circled him, leading him along the wall. He could see the red light of the Lair flicker near him with faint shafts of white light appearing.

He was being herded back into the Lair. The cries and shrieks of all the demons of Darkness still echoed through the doorway that had opened when Anduril had slid through.

"You." Her voice was low but he could hear every word. "You are why such chaos rages in my mind and heart. You, yourself are why your blood will paint the stone of the Lair."

"What?"

"I had given you my love, my soul. I waited for you with quiet patience for your return whenever you left Imladris. Every moment you were gone was a pain in my heart. Every moment you were with me was an unparalleled joy. I was happiest by your side and saddest by myself. It was my greatest desire to hear you say that you felt the same."

"I did. And I do." He could feel himself getting forced to leave the room. "So, why? What did I do wrong?"

"You left me!" Her anger echoed. The sword tip wavered dangerously. "We promised to be together until the end of our days and I believed it like a fool. I waited patiently with hope that the War of the Ring would end with the destruction of Mordor and the news that I could finally wed the one I had loved. But the message sent to Imladris was bittersweet, wasn't it?

"Imagine the pain I felt when I heard that your body was found in front of the Black Gates! I thought my heart was literally being torn to pieces! The pain was too horrible, too great to endure. I resented the crushing pain that love could deliver until… it was too much for me to handle. So, I…" She became breathless as her memory played in her mind.

They were now in the area leading from the domed chamber. To Aragorn, it echoed the architecture and viciousness of Rome's famous amphitheatre, the Coliseum.

"What did you do?" Aragorn asked slowly, almost afraid to know the answer.

"You often asked why I was so interested in daggers at school, Aaron," she said girlishly. "It's because I once felt the merciful release from pain by them."

Aragorn had been told that she had taken her own life but refused to believe it. Hearing that she had killed herself to escape the pain that he had caused awakened a multitude of mixed emotions in his heart. He was stunned into speechlessness by her words.

"And now, you'll have the pleasure of feeling a cold blade drain your life away!"

She rushed at him again, sensing his vulnerability from hearing of her suicide.

His warrior's instinct switched on immediately through his emotions. Reaching to the small of his back, he whipped out the Lorien dagger he kept with him and diverted her attack, sending her off-balanced around him.

_So full of hate_, he thought to himself, _and so unforgiving… Arwen couldn't have been capable of such rage, could she?_

She rounded on him again with an underhanded attack. Her ripped sleeves swayed delicately as she moved. Again, she was blocked by Aragorn's dagger. She had felt that he was holding back on his attacks, like he was holding onto the past they once had.

_No_, he thought, _the Arwen I fell in love with was never capable of hating someone she loved. I loved her… and she loved me. That's why I must do this._

At once, Arwen could feel a new power come from him and felt the slightest stirrings of feat like she had never known. Was this the power of Light that all Darkness feared?

Aragorn glared at her with fierce determination. With strength he never used with her before, he thrust her sword away from him and brought his dagger back down across her side, causing red blood to flow out. As if to react before he changed his mind, he kicked her on her fresh wound.

She let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain that echoed through the Lair as she fell backwards. The pain was unbelievable and real but she clenched her jaw and got to her feet, determined to kill him.

Though he was trying as hard as he could to hold back his tears, he could feel a couple droplets fall onto his cheeks. "I'm sorry, Arwen…"

With all his might, he drew his arm back and threw his dagger straight into her abdomen, just beneath her ribs. He was aiming for her heart.

She gasped in surprise when the blade was driven into her. Her fingers touched the warm blood that was pouring out of her from the dagger and began to feel the life slowly seep out of her. The familiar feeling of weightlessness became apparent and she felt a sudden release and relief wash over her.

"Arwen!" Unable to stand by any longer, he rushed over and caught her as she fell.

"Aragorn…"

He realized that the entire cavern was filled with a pure light instead of the light of the flames that was present when they came in. Maybe it was this new light but he thought Arwen had somehow changed.

Her hand weakly grasped his as death came closer upon her. Aragorn held her close, not wanting to let go but knowing she had to die in his arms. Tears fell onto her hair and he tried to keep his voice steady. "I'm sorry, Arwen. I didn't want… I-I had to. I'm so sorry."

With the remaining strength she had, she reached up to his face and laid a final kiss on his lips as Arwen Undomiel once more.

"Thank you, Aragorn," she whispered, her eyes filled with an old shine. Then, all strength left her and she passed into the afterlife to live on as the Evenstar in the night sky.

The Dark Master melted from the shadows of the area as Aragorn wept for Arwen. It still radiated a sense of danger, intimidation and smug superiority but a faint feeling of panic and fear pervaded through its mask of invincibility. The cracks in the Darkness' foundation were growing deeper.

The Lair was well-lit now with the pure light of Earendil and the fleeting ghost figures of the Army of Middle-Earth. The air itself still reeked of the stench of rotting corpses and the wastes of the thousands of wild creatures that lived in the Lair but it seemed to be easier to breathe. The light and shadows threw the Dark Master into stunning clarity.

"You see me now on the brink of revolution," the Dark Master said and spread its arms. "I may look weak and shriveled from the harm you and your comrades have done to my Lair but no more! I shall bring the Light's destruction into this world personally."

A giant wave of Darkness exploded from the Master and shook the foundations of the Lair. The enslaved souls of the shadows emerged from the depths of the stone, countering the Light's magic and surrounded all the members of the Fellowship.

"The stars will weep and die as the last defense of the force of Light is destroyed."

Aragorn could hear the shadow warriors splashing their way out of the pool of Light. He saw Gimli and Legolas draw their weapons and turn their backs on him to fight. Almost directly above them on a higher level, Frodo and Sam were trying to descend the rock face while defending against the shadows that reached out to grab them. Behind him, he could hear Gandalf instructing Merry and Pippin while using his powerful wizard's staff. All of them were dangerously close to the edges.

"One by one, the Nine Holders of Light shall fall."

"Wait!"

But it was too late. The shadow warriors had forced the Fellowship off their individual platforms and sent them plummeting to the ground level of the deadly amphitheatre.

Aragorn could only watch in horror as his friends fell to their deaths. But gangly hands and arms of shadow reached out and grabbed the falling Fellowship and landed them roughly, but unscathed, to the lowest level where Aragorn and the Dark Master were. The shadowy arms and hands remained bound around the Fellowship, turning into real, physical sludge that trapped them.

"Wait, you say?" The Dark Master sounded interested and eager. It was waiting for this.

"Let them go. Don't let anymore destruction happen."

The Dark Master laughed maniacally. "Are you asking for a deal? Fine. You become my servant and I shall release your friends. If you decline my offer, they shall become my servants and I will command them to kill you right here and now."

Gandalf, even while he was trying to get rid of the binding sludge, could see that Aragorn was torn between two very strong thoughts. "Don't agree to this, Aragorn! Leave us and run!"

"What will you do, Aragorn?" The Dark Master taunted him ruthlessly. "Will you join me? Or will you let your friends join me?"

The thoughts raced through his mind. What was he going to do? If he sacrificed himself for the sake of his friends, the Darkness would undoubtedly use him to attack them. If he declined, he was going to be the one hunted by his own friends who he betrayed. _Damned if you do, damned if you don't_, he thought.

He tried looking towards the rest of the Fellowship for help, but that just made it more difficult. They were putting up a brilliant fight even though they were all tired, beaten and injured. The sludge they managed to get off of them simply kept going back, restraining them where they were.

Legolas couldn't handle it anymore. Struggling against the heavy arms that were trying to restrain him, he slowly drew out an arrow and put it in his bow. He could feel Gimli beside him chopping and hacking away at the sludge that just kept coming back.

He saw Aragorn's mouth open to give his response and he drew his bow with enormous effort against his restraints.

_Don't you even dare, Aragorn!_ Legolas thought.

With shaking arms, he aimed at the Dark Master and released his arrow.

The arrow shot at the Dark Master's head with such speed and force that it tore off its head and sent it bouncing across the floor. As soon as it detached from the body, it oozed out a strange black substance that wasn't blood, bone or flesh. The head bounced across the room and came to a rest near Arwen's body.

Gandalf, following Legolas' lead, charged up a blast of Light with his wizard's staff and shot at the remaining part of the Dark Master's body.

It exploded into chunks and globs of the same substance as the head and scattered in a small area around where it stood. The pieces writhed in pain and haunting spikes reached out into the air like they were trying to grasp some sort of relief from the blinding pain.

The sludge binding the Fellowship pulsed for a moment and released them, turning back to shadows once more.

Shaking, Sam looked around. "Is it over? Did we do it?"

The whole Fellowship stared at the quivering lumps of slimy black matter. Their hearts hammered in their chests in frightened anticipation as their eyes followed the slime.

The writhing slowed to a stop and the Fellowship breathed a sigh of relief.

"We should notify Boromir and the spirits," Gandalf sighed. "The War is over."

With absolutely no warning at all, the black slime shook again with more life than ever. They squirmed and began crawling towards each other, concentrated at the centre of the explosion. Through some kind of Dark magic, the pieces started assembling together back into a body that the Master could use. Piece by piece, bit by bit, the Dark Master reemerged from the dead filled with more vengeance than ever.

Frodo's shoulder was agonizing now that he was so close to the heart of Darkness. He could almost feel the magic pulse within his shoulder, threatening to spread throughout his body. The ancient wound was almost blinding him with pain and blood kept stinging his right eye from his new wound.

He felt his head lift on its own accord and saw the Dark Master reforming in front of him and felt his shoulder flare with excruciating pain. He knew the Master was playing with him but this time he was glad it did.

Beyond it was its old cloaked head in a pool of Arwen's blood. It was dissolving and bubbling in a form that was obvious it was trapped and dying. Part of it was still intact but immediately began to dissolve and melt into oblivion at the first contact with the Elvish princess' blood.

"It's blood," Frodo choked out, still holding his shoulder. "It's our blood!"

"What're you talking about?" Sam asked in a slight panic. "Of course it's our blood that's going to spill!"

"No, that's not what I'm talking about!" He clambered onto his feet and, pushing all the pain he felt out of his mind, he pointed to the head in the pool of blood. "It's the blood of Light! It can't touch it or else it melts, see?"

In that moment, Gandalf realized why the Dark Master couldn't kill them by its own hand. Their blood and flesh were infused with the force of Light and were extremely potent to a being of pure Darkness. Arwen, though corrupted by the Darkness, still retained enough Light when she died for her blood to damage the Master. If it destroyed the Master's head with that little Light in her blood, how strong could theirs be?

"Merry, quick!" He commanded the Hobbit and his scythe. "Before it fully returns to power, draw a circle of blood with Arwen's. Fly!"

Merry dashed as fast as he could to the girl's body just as the shadows began to form around their feet once more.

"MOVE!" Gimli shouted to them and pushed Legolas to get him moving. "Don't stay still or the shadows will get you and tie you down like a rabbit snare."

Their feet stuck to the shadows on the ground at first but their agility kept them out of trouble for the moment. All of them kept a careful eye on the Master and its progress as they ran and tried to figure out how to defeat it. As they watched it become more collected, they noticed that the arms and hands grasping at them got faster and faster. Soon, their cloaks and weapons were getting snagged by the eerie shadows.

Merry swallowed a lump in his throat when he approached Arwen's body with his scythe in hand. He knew now that she was the one who the spirits had cried out for in such mournful tones. In his heart, he asked her for forgiveness and strength as he covered the blunt end of his scythe in her blood. As an afterthought, he dipped his blade into her blood as well.

Once his scythe had sufficient blood on it, he raced across the stone straight towards the Dark Master. Sensing powerful magic around it, he instinctively turned sharply and dragged the end of his scythe on the ground and circled it, trapping it in.

Legolas ran by his present cousin's body and saw his arrow. He made a mad run for it and picked it up as he passed. All of a sudden, he could hear tiny screams and yelps beneath his feet. He looked behind him and realized that he had stepped in her blood and it was protecting him from the shadows.

"God, Aiden," Legolas whispered sadly to himself. He whipped the excess blood off his arrow at a group of looming arms and hands near Gimli and pulled out the phial filled with the Light of Earendil.

Across the room, Gandalf's eye was caught by the shimmering Light of Earendil. He looked at Legolas' arrow in his hand and the reason for the phial was apparent. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the Dark Master was almost finished regenerating itself. The top of his staff began to shine brightly as he focused his energy to it.

Frodo had run to Aragorn, completely ignoring the pain his body endured. "Aragorn! Aragorn, I have to tell you something!"

The Man grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of a torrent of shadow hands. His eyes barely hid the confusion and chaos his soul was feeling but he could understand that Frodo knew something to defeat the Darkness. "What? What is it?"

"Our blood," he told him as they kept moving. "It's made up with a lot of Light and the Darkness can't handle that! We need to get that thing to touch some of our blood! It's the only way we can defeat it!"

The Dark Master looked even worse than ever, if that was possible. Its form, which used to be enveloped in a tattered, billowing cloak, was now shifting and almost dripping like a fluid being without a defined shape. Crumbling and with its body wriggling like it was out of control, it tried attacking Pippin, who was closest to it.

The instant it tried crossing the ring of blood surrounding it, the Light reacted with its core magic and gave it a powerful shock.

Pippin felt his heart stop in fear when the Dark Master lunged at him, shadows creeping around him. He was just about to walk into a particularly dark cluster of shadows without noticing when Aragorn grabbed him rather forcefully and pulled him away. He was being led to Arwen's dead body.

Aragorn pulled his dagger out of her, hoping that his plan would work. He eyed Pippin from head to toe as they stood in the pool of blood. "You didn't get a cut? Nothing?"

Pippin shook his head.

"Lucky bastard." As quickly as he could, he wiped away most of Arwen's blood from his dagger. He grabbed Sam as he passed and yanked him into he puddle of safety as well. "You're staying here, Sam."

Sam and Pippin exchanged nervous glances, not knowing what he was going to do.

The shining light of Gandalf's staff had come to a stop a few meters from the edge of the ring of blood. Gandalf had long known that his own blood had smeared across his staff and would normally be irritated by this on any day besides that day. Now, he was praising Eru and the Eldar that his blood was there.

A ghostly hand grasped the staff from behind him and strengthened the magic of the wizard Boromir gave him a faint smile when he turned his head.

"There isn't a Fellowship without all nine of us," Boromir said. His hand faintly glowed and the staff's light grew even stronger.

Merry pole-vaulted over a great clump of materializing shadows to Gandalf and Boromir and, with a flash of brilliant silver from his deathly scythe, he dispelled half of the enemy. Turning to Gandalf and Boromir, he pulled his scythe down and cut his left palm. He gripped the staff and all three of them saw the staff's light grow steadily stronger.

The Dark Master saw the Fellowship prepare for their attack from three directions at once. The wizard, a ghost and a Hobbit stood near him with a blinding light from the wizard's staff. The Elf, the Dwarf and the Hobbit with a bleeding eye held the Light of Earendil and prepared one of the Elf's arrows. Aragorn and the remaining two Hobbits hovered by the dead girl with the dagger of Lothlorien. Its chances were not good. It was losing.

More shadows gathered around the Dark Master and filled the air as deadly shards of Darkness. More lethal than any arrow in the world and surging with supernatural energy, the shards shot towards all the members of the Fellowship at the Master's command.

Most of the Fellowship had long engrained the instinct of defending with their swords against any incoming object in their minds but all of them, including Boromir, had been cut with the Dark magic. Boromir felt the pain of the shards cut and sting his ghostly skin and a little bit of life drain from him.

The Fellowship had prepared themselves for the onslaught of the shards when they first appeared and used their swords and blades to block them. The shards shattered into nothing when they hit their weapons but many had sliced the Fellowship's arms, sides and legs, staining their clothes and skin with red.

Legolas had soaked one of his last arrows with the Light of Earendil but he could feel it vibrating with a strange energy as his blood touched the arrow's feather flights.

Sensing the arrow, Frodo hastily wiped his eye to get it free of some blood and took the arrow from Legolas. Him, Legolas and Gimli could almost feel the lethal power it was now carrying.

Gimli snatched the arrow from Frodo and wiped some of his own blood onto the arrowhead. Now, with its head, shaft and flights blessed with the blood of three of the Nine Holders of Light as well as the Light of Earendil, the power it wielded was unlike any other in history but nowhere powerful enough to destroy the Darkness.

As Legolas glanced around the room to see his other Fellowship members, he noticed that they were all exactly the same distance from each other around the blood ring. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he slid his arrow into his bow.

Twining both staffs together with the power of Gandalf and Merry's blood smeared across both shafts doubled the wizard's staff's power. Boromir vigilantly kept his ghostly hand wrapped around both staffs and carefully focused his energy and boosted the power of the light shining at the top of the staffs even more. All three of them raised the charged staffs and aimed at the Dark Master.

Aragorn had collected Sam and Pippin's blood on his hand and, their blood mixed with his own dripping down his arm, he gripped his Lorien dagger. As his, Sam's, Pippin's and Arwen's blood mingled with each other on his dagger, the three boys could feel the last barrier holding back the Light's true power crumble within them. Aragorn drew his arm back and aimed carefully at the Master.

After this whole ordeal, none of them could figure out if it were their imaginations or not but all Nine claimed that they could see white wings accompany each of their attacks.

Whether or not it was an act of fate was undecided but all three attacks were unleashed at once.

Three streaks of Light – one from an arrow infused with the power of the Stars, one from the ancient powers of the Istari and loyalty of Middle-Earth, and one from the twirling dagger thrown by the hand of the King of Men and powered by Hobbits, Elves and Men – all converged on the Dark Master in an unstoppable force guided by the Fellowship, Nine Holders of Light.

Unable to defend itself from such an attack, the Dark Master had no place to run and was spliced by the three-pronged attack. It made no noise as the Light traveled through its body, the Fellowship's blood canceling its very core of existence and killing it with the only thing that could possibly destroy it. The arrow and dagger were stuck to its body, causing physical pain as well as magical.

Finally, it let out a damned shriek into the corners of the Lair in defeat. The Light that had infected it threw shafts of white light through its body from within, creating more crevices and cracks in its body. With an echoing wail that crossed the boundaries of time, the Dark Master exploded to pieces and its body was reduced to ash, dust and shadow.

In seconds of the Dark Master's defeat, a deep rumbling was felt beneath their feet.

"What the hell's going on?" Sam asked over the noise. "The Master's gone! Shouldn't things be getting back to normal now, not get worse?"

Aragorn knew this rumbling under his feet very well and he knew what had happened. "It's Uruk-Hai and Orcs! They're rampaging around the Lair because they don't have a leader now! They're all in a state of chaos!"

"I'll get the remaining spirits to help!" Boromir shouted. He faded into the air and summoned the spirits of Middle-Earth to keep fighting.

They all heard and felt the confused and panicked legions of Darkness come nearer. The roars of Uruk-Hai, the snarls of Orcs and the screeching of Neos were all unmistakably closer then they had been before. Unfortunately, they could see no exit on all sides of them in the amphitheatre. They were trapped.

It was faint but Legolas and the four Hobbits could hear a whistling sound that wasn't of the Lair. It sounded like it was distant and muffled. In a second, the whole Lair found out what it was.

A high-energy explosive collided with the upper wall of the Lair. A second, third and fourth came rocketing into the Lair, making a humongous hole for anything to come through. The fourth missile was slightly lower, making a crack that split the wall all the way to the amphitheatre.

The Fellowship stood in shock, momentarily wondering what to do. However, their rescue was already planned out for them so they didn't have to do a thing. Their method of rescue was something they were not expecting.

A roar came from outside that was only familiar to Gandalf's ears.

"DRAGONS?"

Two pairs of scaled dragon wings burst into the Lair following their sleek heads. Metal extensions had been attached to their already razor-sharp claws and their abdomen armor plates glistened in the reflected light of the purified pool. One dragon had a dark red tint to its scales and the other had a blue metallic shine to its own scales. Together, their bursts of fire wrought destruction on the Lair and caused many minions to flee in terror.

The Fellowship gathered together as rocks and stone cascaded around them. As the dragons soared overhead with fire pouring from their mouths, the crack in the amphitheatre deepened but not enough to release them from the Lair.

"Shit," Gimli cursed. "We're trapped! What the hell are we going to do?"

"Are we going to die here?" Merry asked, barely above the noise around them. His friends around him stayed silent in response but he knew from their silence. They were staring death in the face.

A giant, silver snake-like creature flew into the Lair and circled the ceiling. It curled and swerved around the dragons, spiraling down through the platforms into the amphitheatre. Its front legs, which were tucked into its chest as it was flying, stretched out and clawed the ground as it slowed to a stop around the Fellowship.

"That-that-that's…" Pippin stammered as he stared at the new creature now examining them.

"An Asian dragon!" Legolas said aloud. The dragon's deep jade eyes were vaguely familiar to his mind.

Satisfied that they were indeed the Fellowship, the dragon raised its head and called to its comrades. Despite its size and strength, the silver dragon was gentle and protective when it curled itself around the Fellowship like a cocoon.

They couldn't see anything except for the dragon's scales but they could feel two huge surges of intense heat come from different directions above them. They could feel the shockwave of the twin explosions as they ripped the stone wall apart. Despite being only about fifteen meters away from the blast, the Fellowship received no harm because of the protective dragon coiled around them.

It carefully unwrapped itself from them and raced outside of the Lair through the large hole that the other dragons made. The short tunnel was short but dangerously unstable.

Though exhausted beyond belief, Merry and Pippin glanced at each other. They glanced at Frodo and Sam. The adrenaline rushing through their bodies made them giddy even though they knew it was no time to be laughing.

Pippin smirked and tapped Merry, Frodo and Sam. "Race you."

"You're on!" They all said.

All at once, the four Hobbits dashed towards the exit, mostly focusing on running as fast as they could away from the Lair. Calling after them followed the rest of the Fellowship, who caught up with them soon enough.

Aragorn hesitated midway through the short tunnel and looked back at Arwen's body, trying to decide. Legolas grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the tunnel into the barren field that lay around the Lair. Legolas shouted to him as the structure inside began to crumble, "We have to get some distance away from the fucking building or we'll be seeing her sooner than we want to!"

But as they ran as hard as they could, Aragorn saw the silver dragon slither back into the Lair only to come out moments later with some things clutched in its claws.

A rush of Uruk-Hai, Orcs, Neos and other Darkness-controlled creatures poured out of the Lair in attempts to escape the burning hell that was inside. The structure of the Lair was crackling and the deep fissures caused by the constant missiles launched onto the Lair were creeping into the foundations of the entire base.

With scores of monsters running behind them, the Fellowship had no choice but to run straight ahead. The sky was lightening behind them and the stars above them winked and sparkled with life, encouraging them all to escape death.

A forest had appeared overnight around the Lair and the cliffs surrounding it. Directly in front of them, they could just make out about a dozen people situated in sparse locations in the treetops.

"Just get into the trees!" A voice, young and clear, yelled out to them. "We'll take care of the rest!"

Summoning every last cell to use their strength, the Fellowship continued to run towards the forest. They could feel their exhaustion slowing them down and the last of their energy giving out of them. They struggled to reach the tree line.

Luckily, several trees moved forward, picked them up and placed them into their branches, by someone's orders that were called out into the night. Once the Fellowship was safely in the branches of the Ents, the same voice that called to them rang out again.

"Now! _Hado i philinn!_"

Arrows launched from the treetops towards the creatures that were now flooding into the forest. In the distance, the Lair continued to crumble from the destruction without and within. It now looked like a ruin of something that was once great, powerful and supreme, like castles of old that sat in sad disrepair.

Frodo could feel his body shutting down due to the extreme stress he and his friends had to endure but he forced himself to stay awake. Near him, to his left, he heard the crackle of an electronic communications radio and someone speaking through it.

"Yes, ma'am," someone said into the radio, "they're looking like they walked through the circles of hell, purgatory and limbo but they're all alive."

Another electronic message was sent through the radio that Frodo couldn't understand. A second later, a series of flashes came from the branches to his left that were aimed upwards to someone on the highest branch of the highest tree there.

The person understood and held their hand high. Crackles of a full-spread transmission were heard all around the Fellowship and around the Lair. The Fellowship could barely hear it but saw the results immediately.

All firing ceased to a stop and the object in the person's hand began to glow.

"Brace yourselves! Hold onto something steady!" The clear voice called to the Fellowship.

All of the people sitting in the trees clutched the trunks tightly and the trees and Ents rooted themselves to the solid earth. The Dark creatures ran frantically on the ground but they were ignored; this was much more important.

The object in the person's hand pulsed faintly in the oncoming dawn. Rings of light barely seen throbbed around the hand as the morning rays of pink and gold light shot across the sky.

A stillness that only dawn could bring settled across the field.

A great inhalation was heard from the Lair, like it was preparing for one last breath of life. Huge shafts of light pierced through all the orifices that exposed it to the outside world.

An ear-splitting explosion cascaded across the field when the power of the twin dragons was unleashed upon the structure. The two dragons were flying high, forced out of the Lair by their own blasts but relatively unharmed due to their superior armor and natural defenses.

The Lair burst into millions of pieces from the inside and it crumbled in a spectacular display that could only describe the image of seeing an evil being destroyed. Like a puppet without strings, the Lair collapsed to nothing but a pile of wrecked stone and debris of a dead threat.

The Fellowship did not see the destruction of the Lair.

The enormous shockwave that was caused by the explosion hit the forest like a sudden wind with speeds comparable to a tropical hurricane. To the members of the Fellowship, it felt like a brick wall had smashed into them.

All of them held onto the trees but quickly slipped into unconsciousness. The Ents carrying them managed to secure most of them but Legolas relinquished his control over his Elvish blood and suddenly felt a hundred times more tired than before.

He dropped suddenly from the branches to be caught by something that flashed silver beneath him.

The last thing he remembered before slipping into the bliss of sleepy oblivion was clear voices calling for medical help…

--- ---

A/N: FINALLY FINISHED!

I have NOTHING against Arwen, okay? I just thought that it'd make a nice little plot twist. So don't flame me, for Eru's sake!

1 chapter left.

Next chapter: The End of All Things.


	38. The End of All Things

--- ---

A bird sang a sweet song given to it by nature. Its notes echoed faintly in the boy's head as he felt himself slowly wake up from the dark comforts of deep sleep. He could hear whisperings in the room, hushed but calm. Soft light filtered through his eyelids but his body felt so heavy and warm…

Someone came beside him and he could feel that they knelt down to look at his sleeping figure. A familiar voice called towards them from across the room.

"Aw, don't touch him, Pip," Merry said quietly, "he looks like he needs the rest."

"He's had enough rest." Pippin's light voice was close to him. He kept his eyes shut to feign his sleep.

"Pip, he's going to wake up if you touch him!"

"Well, that's kind of the point now, isn't it, Frodo?" He laughed and gently prodded his shoulder. "Wakey, wakey, Legolas. Time to rise and shine like the crab-ass Elf prince you are!"

Legolas reached up behind his shoulder and grabbed his pillow from beneath his head like he was drawing an arrow. He whipped his arm around and smacked Pippin square in the face. Feathers flew out of the pillow as the hobbit flew onto the floor on his back.

"Ai!" Pippin yelped as he fell. "Legolas!"

"I'm crabby, huh?" Legolas grinned as he sat up with his pillow in hand. He realized he had no top on when a breeze from a window ran across his bare chest. He looked down and saw that his lower half of his torso was bandaged with white linen as well as his left upper arm.

The room they were in was small but very comfortable. Most of the furnishings were made of rich quality but modestly designed wood. The beds that were arranged in a hospital fashion were made of a metal alloy that was welded to mimic the Elvish and Man cultures, both of the past and present. A songbird in a wicker Chinese cage hung by the windowsill near Legolas' bed.

The afternoon sun streamed into the room in a sleepy daze. A light wind rustled the trees outside in peaceful rhythm. Everything was peaceful and quiet with no shadows lurking in the corners.

"Where are we?" Legolas asked as he looked at the rich room. It was a feast for his eyes after being used to images of ruins. He didn't think that there was any place left that remained intact and preserved so well.

"In some chapel connected to St. Francis Church. You know the big one in downtown?" Frodo said as he helped Pippin up from the ground. He had a piece of gauze covering his right eye.

"Are you serious? I would've thought it was destroyed ages ago since it's so big and full of things that reflect Light." He looked around again and noticed that several religious relics were scattered around the room.

The traditional Christian cross of Jesus Christ hung on the wall above the door but it was superimposed on a pagan pentacle. A stone Buddha the size of a cantaloupe sat serenely on a table to the right accompanied with a few Native American model totem poles. A statue of Vishnu stood on a night table on the other side and an ebony statue of an African god Legolas couldn't recognize sat on the table next to it. That room was filled with statues and pictures from religions around the world yet they all seemed to compliment each other. Legolas especially liked the Torah and Qu'ran lying open next to each other on a desk in a well-lit corner.

Someone came in lightly with a metallic rattle. "Didn't I tell you guys to stay in bed?"

A Chinese girl with a blue and gold trimmed linen shirt came in carrying a tray of food and medical supplies. She smiled at them reproachfully as she made her way to Legolas' bed. Her eyes stared at the feathers lying on the floor.

"What happened here?" She spoke English perfectly and asked after she set the tray down and saw that the songbird was fine.

"Legolas hit me with a pillow!" Pippin exclaimed.

"Oh, okay. Good job!" She laughed with them but still carried a touch of a commanding tone when she said, "Get into bed or you won't get any food!"

All four Hobbits dashed into one of the beds and waited patiently.

"And I was just talking to Frodo," she muttered to Legolas with a small grin. She gathered some food and delivered it to the Hobbits. "Don't make a mess again or Galadriel's going to yell at me instead of you."

"You know Galadriel?" Legolas asked, knowing nothing of the current situation. "How old are you?"

"I work for Lady Galadriel, along with about two hundred and fifty others who she rounded up around the world. I think I'm around sixteen or seventeen. I'm not too sure. Somewhere around there."

"I'm sorry," Legolas apologized, "I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay." She smiled faintly. "A lot of people ask me that since I look kind of young but I can use these pretty well." She patted her sabre by he side and the triangular seis that hung on her hips.

Creeping footsteps were heard outside the door and another girl's head slowly peeked into the room. A pair of chocolate brown eyes surveyed the inhabitants as another pair of feet walked down the halls towards the converted chapel. The eyes lit up with they locked on to Merry lying in bed and eating some stew.

"Marty!" Christine, the girl he had freed, ran in and embraced Merry around the neck. "You came back! You came back! I was so worried that I wouldn't see you again!"

Merry nearly choked on his soup when she suddenly hugged him but greatly appreciated the thought. He chuckled and hugged her back. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

She shook her head. "The magic healing girl over there made me all better. See? Bandages all over and a few of them are pretty and colourful."

The girl was now handling a pair of medical scissors. "I'm not a magic healing girl! I gave you a clean-up with rubbing alcohol, Polysporin and antibacterial cream for healing and those funky little Band-Aids because you said you wanted them."

"Yeah, exactly. Magic healing girl."

The girl laughed and pretended to throw a medical kit at her when a brown-skinned, slender girl came in. "Hey, Micah," the Chinese girl said, "What's up?"

"Galadriel's wondering if they're ready to get out of the hospital wing yet," Micah said with a soft, lilting voice. She held her longbow in hand, showing that she was in the trees when the Lair was demolished. To the boys there, she bore a strange resemblance to their classmate Neluni. "Oh, and she said to send them to the altar when you're done, Celebuls."

"All right. But don't call me that; call me Maikaza or Mai or Kaza. I hate it when people call me that."

"Yeah, I know," Micah chuckled. "That's why I call you that. By the way, Sam, Rosie's been asking about you." She grinned and left them alone.

Sam flushed and hid his face from the others with his food. That didn't stop them from teasing him.

Maikaza was gently cutting Legolas' bandages off to take a look at his wounds. To say the least, he felt a little uncomfortable and faintly blushed when she ran her hand across his shoulders. In his mind, he noted that he'd been deprived of the presence of girls for far too long.

"Hey, is everyone here girls or what?" Legolas asked and slowly took his linen bandages off. He was relieved to see that there was no blood.

"You only wish, buddy. I told you before that there're about two hundred fifty people here, right?" She raised herself to put her head on his shoulder. "About twenty of us, not including you guys, are under the age of twenty. It's not very fun because we're not allowed to make stupid mistakes."

"There're like a dozen people here who actually served in some kind of elite army," informed Christine as Maikaza instructed Legolas to read off a chart on the far wall to test his eyesight. "I heard that Domingues was in the Swiss Guard."

"Domingues is this guy who's three times the size of me," Merry told Legolas across the room. "I swear he nearly stepped on me yesterday."

"You've been out cold for a week, Legolas," Maikaza said behind him. She touched his lower sides and saw that his Elvish blood effectively healed his wounds. "That's a good thing since your wounds have completely healed. All that's left are really faint scars and you can barely see them."

"A week?" he repeated. "It's been a week without anything happening like an ambush or something?"

The small chapel rang with laughter.

"Legolas, there have been at least four attacks on this ancient church," said Frodo as he started peeling his eye bandage off. "We're still here because this is a church; there's too much Light infused in the building itself for the Dark creatures to do anything."

"It's a true sanctuary, then," Legolas surmised.

Maikaza hopped down from the bed and went to examine Frodo's eye with a penlight. "Churches, temples and shrines are all places where the goodness and Light of humans generally gather because that is where the force is realized. Anytime the troops of Galadriel needed to find a place to hide out from the Darkness, we just searched for the nearest place of religion."

"Really?" Frodo asked. He sat patiently when she was checking his eye slashes. "Any church or whatever would've worked? Why didn't we think of that and saved us the trouble?"

"Because there WERE no churches or shrines we knew about that were around us," Sam told him.

"Besides," said Maikaza, "we had a rule: the older the place, the better. An older establishment has more human spirituality because more people had worshipped there over the years. Frodo, stop squirming, damn it! You're going to make me jab your eye out!"

Frodo pulled away from her reach and immediately scratched the several itches that bothered him around his eye. Maikaza scoffed and flipped her dark, layered hair back while she waited for him to stop.

"The best places were those really famous religious places. You know, places like Mecca, St. Peter's Basilica… Actually, Vatican City itself was a safe haven in itself." She continued to clean up Frodo's wounds as she talked.

"And you went to Rome, why…?" Pippin asked.

"To find survivors, warriors and the like. Plus, it gave us protection and a home base famous and close enough to here so everybody could gather and start planning. Once there were enough people to come here and attack, Galadriel formed the ranks and announced the battle plan.

"Some of us travelled on foot, others by car or some kind of vehicle. The ones who went by car were scouts that cleared the way and advised Galadriel which roads to take.

"Obviously, not all of us went out at once. The first few groups that went out were in groups of around fifty and they were mostly scouts and people who knew how to fight. I was in the last of those groups so the skill level was quite a bit lower than Special Forces or Special Ops, whatever they're called.

"Anyway, we set up base camp here at St. Francis and waited for everyone to arrive. We all spread out across the city in small bunches to keep hidden from the Darkness but the people who were fighting stayed close to St. Francis. Galadriel arrived and within a week, several scouts were dispatched as her ambassadors to the Ents to rally their help. We knew that her plan was going to work when we received the message that you guys were in contact with them and they were willing to help.

"I don't know how, but Lady Galadriel somehow found out that you guys were already underground when we made our way to the Ents' forest. We were weighed down by the explosive equipment the professional soldiers managed to salvage but we managed to get to the forest by car, explain the situation and start our way to the massive Lair in a matter of two days."

The Hobbits, Legolas and Christine were listening with rapt attention. Her hair shined in the gold afternoon sun as she paced around the room, picking up things knocked down and the strewn bandages. She began untying her weapons as she continued her story.

"The rocket launchers and their personnel drove in their vans and Jeeps and led the vast army of Ents to the Lair across the city. Even though those Ents don't look like much, they can move pretty damn fast." She paused for a moment and turned her back to them. She reached under her shirt like she was unstrapping her bra but instead unbuckled the straps holding her seis in place and put them on a bed nearby.

"Sexy," commented Christine when nobody else did. Her comment brought on a few shy chuckles and coughs. Maikaza laughed, apologized and continued again.

"We stayed in the trees for a whole day or two, preparing ourselves and our weapons for the battle to come. Any Dark creature that happened to see us or get in our way was destroyed either by the marching Ents or a sniper, like Micah, who shot from the branches when the Lair fell.

"The Ents and trees circled around the Lair in the valley while the rocket launchers and emergency task forces stayed positioned on the cliffs surrounding it. The com-radios kept everyone aware of where everything was and what was going on as well as what we were preparing for. Aside from the rockets and com-radios, we used only swords, pikes and archery weapons to fight the Army of Darkness, on Galadriel's request. Something about those weapons being more effective…?"

Frodo quickly explained the theory Gandalf and Galadriel had come up with before. "Since you guys mostly fought after the Master was gone, it was no problem."

"That'd make sense, actually. Anyway, we waited for a while and watched the stars as night drew on. None of us could sleep, knowing that war was so close. Finally, about half an hour before the first light of dawn, the com-radios crackled on.

"'All squads, attention,' Galadriel said into the radios. 'We will be launching the rockets in five minutes. Special ops, you know your duties. Kaza, do it.'

"I did what I had to do and the rockets blasted the Lair's walls open. The dragons went in, terrorized the place, got you guys out and levelled the Lair to the ground."

"That was pretty fun to watch," Christine said with a smile. "The prisoners got out and hid in the trees a bit before the rockets hit the Lair. That guy, Faramir, and his gang were so cool when they fought any monster in our way." She swung her arms around and made noises like she was wielding an imaginary sword.

"Is he cooler than me?" Merry asked her playfully and gave her a dinner roll.

"Yes!" She took the roll anyway and ate it.

They let out a good laugh when she did this and Merry gave her a soft glare that only he could deliver. He smirked and ate his other dinner roll before she could take it.

"So what happened after we got into the forest?" Sam asked. "All I remember are hearing Orcs and other things on the ground and someone yelling before I passed out."

"Not much," said Maikaza. "We got all of you safely into the paramedics' hands to keep you all out of harm's way. A lot of the Army of Middle-Earth went into rest a couple hours after the Lair crumbled but a few very loyal soldiers stayed behind until they were sure all of you were okay."

"And we were transported here for recovery," finished Legolas. He rubbed his eyes to get rid of the last bits of sleep out of his mind. "Any casualties or life-threatening injuries happen in the ward?"

Maikaza shook her head. "I think something that's beyond our understanding was watching and protecting us because nobody had a really bad injury. The worst, I believe, are a broken shoulder and a five-day sleep."

Legolas grinned and the Hobbits booed at him. "Sorry! At least I didn't break anything!"

"We had a DOA, but she was kind of expected," Maikaza said sadly. "To tell you the truth, we weren't expecting her to survive long in our care if she came to us alive. She was just too damaged physically, spiritually and mentally for us to do anything besides more harm."

Before Legolas could ask for identification of the dead girl, Micah came back and burst into the room, strapping on what looked like a custom-made rapier. The metal of the hilt grasped the translucent, pearly royal blue stone that made up the pommel and was quickly covered by Micah's jacket. Her bow and bowstring were in her quiver, already strapped to her back.

"Kaza!" She called to her in a bit of a panic. "The dragons are raising hell and they won't calm down without your orders. Get these guys up to the altar! And why'd you take off all your weapons?"

"I didn't expect another pack of demons to come around so quickly!" She shot back at her with indignation and grabbed her weapons and began putting her sword on her hips. She tossed her seis to Micah for her to hold.

"Christine!" Maikaza called to her. "Lead them up to the main altar, would you? Galadriel and Gandalf are waiting for them." She addressed the guys as she drew her seis out of their sheaths and simply put them in her sword belt. "Sorry, guys, but this is where I have to leave you today. Aragorn, Gimli and Boromir should join you upstairs shortly."

"Come on, Kaza!" Micah yelled at her. "Laura's already out there with her giant bow and she needs help!"

"Okay, okay! I'm ready! Let's go!" The two girls sprinted out of the chapel and their footsteps quickly faded away.

Christine got out of Merry's bed and found Legolas a clean shirt from the wooden chest at the end of the room before getting them all out of bed to go to the main altar. She offered the Elf another layer of clothing from the chest if he felt cold but he refused.

"I don't get cold easily," he said, "but thanks anyway."

"Legolas always has to be the gentleman," Pippin informed Christine as they made their way around the big church. "That's why you really shouldn't pay any attention to him. In fact, I think you should tell all your friends that they shouldn't pay too much attention to him."

Legolas put a tight grip on his shoulder and, as the other Hobbits and Christine laughed, he growled, "You just want all these girls to pay attention to you, don't you? That's a pretty low blow, Pip, and I don't think you want to end up in the hospital room again."

"But if I do, I get nursed by girls like Kaza and Micah," he said cheerfully.

"And you'd get washed by the buzz-cut, 6'5", 250-pound Navy SEAL named Sean," interjected Christine. "I'm not kidding. That man comes in sometimes and we tell him to wash the patients. Thank God he has a good heart and does it."

"Does that mean he washed me?" Legolas demanded.

Christine gave him a mysterious smile and said, "We've all got to do what we had to do and Galadriel actually ordered us girls not to give you baths. I think she feared for your safety."

"So she gets a Navy SEAL to wash me. That was nice," he said sarcastically.

Their footsteps were muffled by the carpet laid across the aisle up to the altar of the main hall of St. Francis. A hundred rows of pews softly reflected the light filtering in through the towering stained-glass windows that flanked both sides of the church. Beautifully detailed, spiralled pillars supported the balconies that solemnly watched the events of everything under them. Three deep niches lining both sides contained life-sized statues of saints and the legendary Stations of the Cross hung silently on either side of each statue.

Although many of the rooms in the church had been converted to bedrooms, infirmaries or equipment storage rooms, the main sanctuary was largely untouched. A few of the back rows were heavily damaged, a couple of the statues were missing a hand, a foot or part of their head and a stained-glass window of a saint was shattered at the bottom and waiting repairs but that was the extent of the damage done. No weapons, corpses or anything that would show the touch of Darkness and war could be seen.

Bright sunlight streamed in from high windows and illuminated the white-clothed altar in a peaceful display. Several candles were already there in preparation for dusk and night. The only religious items that were seen around the altar were small statues, representing as many cultures of the past as possible and lit candles on tall stands stood behind. They enclosed the altar in a half-circle, as if praying altogether for a better world.

Galadriel and Gandalf were waiting at either end of the altar. It seemed a little strange now to see two powerful beings together in such an enchanting position in a church when no danger was there.

"You're feeling better, I see," Galadriel said as they approached. Her eyes were full of the stars and wisdom of the past, as always, and her smile was still serene and comforting. But, she looked more tired and worn than she had ever been before and her mortality was now more obvious.

"We're all walking, so that's good," replied Christine with a smile. She bowed slightly to Galadriel and Gandalf. "I get the feeling I should leave. I'll see you guys later!"

Merry felt a strange sense of loneliness when she left. He and the others sat on the steps as they waited for Aragorn and Gimli. They asked Galadriel and Gandalf where they were.

"Aragorn was at Arwen's grave today," said Galadriel. They could see that she was deeply hurt by her death. "Her burial was yesterday, Legolas, and I am sorry that we could not wait until you woke up. We didn't anticipate you waking up so soon. We expected you to be asleep for five more days and I apologize."

"It's okay," he reassured her, "I'll be satisfied with visiting her grave today and tomorrow. I just hope Aragorn will understand and forgive my absence when the rest of the Fellowship was there. Is Gimli with him?"

"Aye, I am. And so is Boromir."

Aragorn, Gimli and the form of Boromir came down the aisle like mighty heroes of war. Aragorn had his left arm and shoulder bandaged and hanging in a sling. Gimli had several bandages plastered on his face because of the wounds caused by the flying Dark shards. Boromir, though dead and in spirit form, looked more like the leader of Gondor's armed forces than he had ever been in this lifetime.

Gandalf looked at all the young men that were gathered around the altar in wonder. They were almost completely unrecognizable from the first time they met with Galadriel. They were older, more learned and wise in life as well as physically more mature. It made him remember how old he was but he felt proud to see them like this.

"Aragorn's the broken shoulder," Frodo told Legolas. "How come you two can never keep out of trouble?"

"Speak for yourself," Aragorn fired back. Days of grief and mourning had taken a toll on him and he carried his sadness on his shoulders. However, being with his friends was helping him greatly and he was thankful for that.

Boromir bowed low to Galadriel as a great sign of gratefulness and respect. "My Lady, I've been asked to tell you that the dragons are agitated again but the proper people are taking care of it."

"Thank you, Boromir," she said warmly. "There is not much more I can do about those dragons. I have no control over them."

"You're not going to kill them?" Legolas whipped his head around to her. "You can do that! They saved our lives!"

Gimli put one of his heavy hands on the Elf's shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, Legolas. They're not going to kill or hurt the dragons in any way because they're on our side, not the Darkness'. Although they are pretty wild, like their handler."

"Let's just say Maikaza's… special," Gandalf said, choosing his words carefully. "Aragorn and I agree that you would find her most interesting."

Galadriel looked at the Fellowship with a warm smile. The coloured light from the windows and candles splashed gentle patterns on her scuffed white jacket she wore over her shirt and jeans. She wore no stars on her brow or any crown of any kind but her presence was unmistakably Lady Galadriel and her aura varied little from when they first met her.

"We stand here together again," she said softly but proudly, "as representatives of Middle-Earth. This time, we are here not just as Men, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits and Wizards but as triumphant soldiers of Light after a most challenging eighteen months.

"When we began this journey, I saw you as young men walking paths that were not meant for your feet. We were all brought back for a reason and for our destinies. This War was part of it because we left the War of the Ring and too many people behind us. It untied the Nine Holders of Light from the Fellowship of the Ring and brought the entire world under one shadow, forcing all people to work together and bring an end to all things."

She stepped from the altar to look at all of them and touch them.

"You're all so young and it is sad to know that you had to endure such hard times. But youth brings strength to overcome trials, especially the loos of a loved one."

Aragorn lowered his head when Arwen flashed across his mind. His heart still cried out for her even though he knew she would never come back. He was startled when he felt Galadriel's comforting hands rest on his shoulders and he found himself looking into her eyes.

"You will move on with time, Aragorn," she said reassuringly. "It's a horrible cliché, but it's true." She put a hand on his cheek and wiped one of his tears away. "Be sad and mourn for her but do not dwell your life in the past or you will become fixed in it, unable to move forward and help others.

"That is our destiny," she addressed to all of them. "We need to help this shattered and scattered world rebuild itself into something better than our past.

"I cannot lie and say that we'll try to build a world without pain, suffering and sins because we cannot escape the nature of life. Without pain, we cannot know comfort. Without suffering, we cannot know contentment. Without sins, we cannot recognize good.

"Instead, we must try and build a world where we help each other recover from all the evils done to us so that we can live in the Light even though we suffer from the Darkness.

"The Shadows will always be in this world as long as there are Beings and Light. But we must learn to work and live with them and only then will our destinies be fulfilled."

With the relics of humankind's faiths gathered around them and watching over them as she spoke, her words came from the wishes of every living being in the universe. Each statue or token symbolized so much but, at that moment, they reflected the different faces, emotions and capabilities of humans around the world. Despite all their differences, they gathered with each other peacefully and were living together. Some were with suffering and pain and all were with sin but they sat together in harmony.

They all went outside and in the distance they could just make out the shapes of three dragons flying around in the afternoon sun.

"Those dragons are trying to restore the equilibrium of the world," Gandalf told them. "They detect the stray creatures of Darkness and their instinct is to destroy it so balance is restored. They're very useful when the odd demon group tries to attack us."

A young man came sprinting down the street and up the stairs to meet Galadriel. He was flushed and out of breath but he managed to deliver his message.

"Lady… Galadriel," he panted, "I was… told to tell you as soon as we were done that the project is finished. We just need you to come and make sure everything is as it should be to your requirements."

She nodded and took her leave from the Fellowship with an apology. "I'm sorry but I really need to do this. Don't be afraid to look around our… reestablishment because this is now your home."

No sooner did Galadriel leave when Merry and Pippin heard Boromir whisper in their ears like he had little energy left.

"I'm sorry, guys, but my time's up. Tell the others, will you? Farewell…"

They whirled around to look at him but he had already disappeared into the sun.

"Boromir!" Pippin cried out. Even though he and Merry hadn't spent much time with him in this lifetime, he felt detached and a bit of loneliness by Boromir's departure. "Boromir!"

"Forget it, Pip! He's gone," Merry said with a strained voice. The others heard and looked out into the sun while they took a moment to remember him. "I don't know how, but I can feel that he's really gone."

"But… but… there's so much I wanted to talk with him about," he said sadly. "I can't believe he's already gone. I wanted to thank him for letting us out sometimes when he stuffed us into our lockers. Remember?"

Merry smiled. "I remember, Pip. But don't worry about it. I'm sure he knows that we're thankful for everything he's done for us and to us. Otherwise, how else could we have started being friends with weird guys like them?" He kicked Legolas and Aragorn from behind.

The two of them turned sharply and looked at the two Hobbits.

"He did it." Merry pointed at Pippin.

"What the fuck? You lying bastard!" He chased Merry around the square yard and through the streets of the area.

Gandalf led the remaining members of the Fellowship into the little stone-paved square that sprawled in front of St. Francis Church. Here, several groups of people gathered in peace to talk, share and even trade. A woman's laughter gently carried over the wind and everything was almost like it was in the past.

Mostly for Legolas' sake, Gandalf pointed out the key places in their little makeshift town. Everything was spread out from the park that was in the middle of downtown but the people who came back discovered that an Islamic mosque, a Buddhist temple, a Judaic synagogue and a Catholic church, St. Francis, were all in almost exact distance from each other and from the middle of the park.

"For this reason," Gandalf was saying, "many have come to believe that the park is a protective ground where no more violence should occur."

"Are we still calling this city by its old name?" Legolas asked.

"See, this is where it gets kind of weird," Aragorn said. He, Frodo and Sam had sat down on the edge of the fountain and he was readjusting his sling. "Everyone was calling it this and that, I've heard. One person would call it 'home base' when another would call it 'New Revolution'. Galadriel wanted to call the place 'Atain' from Quenya but I think she was joking.

"Anyway, the rumour goes that someone had a dream. A lot of people think that either Micah or Kaza had the dream because they hang around the dragons. I don't know. Either way, someone had a dream and someone was telling them to call it a 'Gray Haven'."

"You're kidding me," Legolas laughed. "This place is being called the Gray Haven?"

"It fits," Gimli said, "doesn't it? It's pretty safe here but it's been destroyed by the Darkness. All the people here have been touched by its black magic. But together, we're slowly going back to living without anything like it. So between white and black…"

"… is the Gray Haven," finished Legolas. "Pretty fitting since the original Gray Havens was a port for the Elves at the end of the Third Age."

"We suggested the town should be called the New Shire," Frodo said and scratched at his eye, "but we obviously got shot down horribly."

Gimli and Gandalf went down the street to get some drinks for all of them and left Aragorn, Frodo, Sam and Legolas at the fountain. They passed by Merry and Pippin, who were still trying to keep each other pinned to the ground, but paid them little attention of their roughhousing now the danger had passed.

A little girl holding a handmade bunny plushie with button eyes kept looking at the boys around the fountain ledge. She looked like she wanted to say something but was too shy.

"Hello there," Sam said merrily to the little girl. The rest of the guys turned and smiled at her.

"Hi," she said shyly. She held her bunny tightly and crept closer to them along the fountain ledge. She picked up her skirt and climbed up to stand on the ledge and look at them eye to eye.

"Whoa, careful there." Legolas kept his arm behind her to keep her from falling in.

"Are you the Fellowship?" She asked sweetly but through her thumb in her mouth. She had big, brown eyes and curly hair like a Hobbit child.

"We are," Frodo answered with a smile. "There are only half of us here, though."

"Oh." She nervously looked back at the couple sitting at a café table on the other side of the square. They gave her an encouraging nod. She opened her mouth to say something but said nothing when she saw Gandalf, Gimli, Merry and Pippin returning with drinks. She climbed down from the fountain.

"Hello, Nadine," Gandalf said warmly to her as he handed out the drinks. "How are you and Narya?"

"Hi, Gandalf, sir," she said quietly. She held onto her bunny tightly and climbed onto Frodo's lap. She held out her bunny plushie for Sam to see. "Me and Narya are good. But Narya wants to tell you something."

"Oh, yeah?" Sam took the bunny's paw and shook it. "Nice to meet you, Narya. You can't tell someone something without introducing yourself first, you know."

Nadine took a deep breath. "Narya says… She says…" She held the plushie high so the whole Fellowship could see. "Narya says 'thank you for everything you've done!' But I want to thank you, too, 'cause I… I get to spend more time with Narya and Chester and Sakura over there because of you."

The couple, presumably Chester and Sakura, waved at them when the Fellowship looked over. Chester called to them, "Nadine, you have to tell them about your dream."

"I'll bet it was a pretty dream since you're such a pretty girl," Sam said with a smile. After his adventures, he loved kids because they had that sense of innocence and purity that couldn't be found anywhere else.

Nadine giggled and nodded but said nothing else.

"What was it about? Was it about… kittens? About Narya, here?"

"No!" Nadine giggled at Sam's friendliness. "Well… Narya was there at the beginning of my dream and she talked to me." Still in Frodo's lap, she stood her bunny up and posed her. "She talked to me like this." Then, she pointed to the bell tower of the church. "And we were up there."

"Wow," Gimli muttered to Legolas. "I wish I could be easy with kids like Sam is. It'd make things so much easier."

"Not possible. Unless you somehow make yourself less scary-looking than you already are." He looked at Gimli's belt. "Of course, it never hurts to disarm yourself of your axes."

Gimli just muttered incoherently and shrugged. They caught each other's eye, laughed and clinked their cups. "Cheers, friend."

"So you can't remember anything about what she said?" Sam was asking the little girl gently. "Nothing? She was just talking?"

"Mmm…" She closed her eyes tightly as she tried to remember. "She said… something about the Fellowship and the sunset. Maybe something about the sunrise, too. I can't remember. It's all fuzzy. But it felt like Mommy was there with me again, watching over me when I was dreaming."

"Then she was," Frodo said and bounced her on his knee. "Never have any doubts about that, okay, Nadine?"

"Okay!" she chirped.

"It's almost sunset," Merry said. He looked up at the lofty bell tower. "How long did it take us to get up there a couple days ago, Pip?"

Pippin took a sip from his drink and looked up as well. "I'd say a good half hour. We were taking our own bloody time, though. What, you want to get up there? Now? Ten minutes before sunset? I can't do that!"

Gimli was looking up at the bell tower and considering going up there but he felt like he had enough experiences with heights and falling for the time being. "Like hell I'm going up there. We Dwarves are sprinters, not long distance runners! I wouldn't make it up there in time."

"But me, Frodo and Legolas can!" Merry said. "I'd say Aragorn, too, but he has a fu… banged-up shoulder and you can't run with a banged-up shoulder like that," he said, catching himself before he cursed. "That Sean bloke wouldn't like seeing you in the infirmary again with the same injuries as last time."

"Be fast about it," Gandalf told the three runners. Frodo gave Nadine to Sam and the other two set their drinks down. "If there's something up there, like Nadine's dream says, then we should know about it. Now, run. Run!"

Legolas, Merry and Frodo looked at each other for a moment and, all at once, raced into the church. Merry led the way through the halls, past glowing candles and decorative tapestries to the stairs up the bell tower. They climbed the corkscrew staircase, which was accented with small stained-glass windows that shot coloured beams of light onto their path. But around halfway up the tower, the Hobbits called to slow it down to a walk.

"And you guys made it to the cross-country team?" Legolas asked incredulously but was a little out of breath himself.

"Since when was cross-country about going up the stairs of a bell tower?" Merry asked back with a grin. He led the way up at a quick walk.

After a moment of catching their breaths, Legolas asked them something that he had on his mind for a while. "I thought I fell. What caught me?"

"You didn't figure it out yet?" Frodo called behind to him. "You're slow after you sleep for five days. It was Kaza and her dragon."

"Kaza has a dragon…?"

"Yeah. We were shot full of drugs at the time so we couldn't really understand what Galadriel was talking about but, from what I gather, Kaza controls the dragons but doesn't remember a thing from her past. Her memory's wiped clean."

"Huh," Legolas muttered, "I could've sworn I met her before. Can't ask her anymore, can I…?"

"Ask her anyway," Merry said and fumbled with the trapdoor latch. "We were pretty high on drugs so we don't know for sure. Here we go."

They climbed out of the trapdoor and breathed in the fresh air the wind brought them. The city surrounded them in all direction in ruins but the warm air brought with it the coming of spring and new growth. Even in the setting sun, they could see that plant life was gently pushing up from between the cracks of the asphalt and foundations to reclaim the land. By the end of the season, they would see that half the city ruins would have twining vines in and out of their walls and nature would already be rejuvenating itself.

In the east, they could see the flowering park that was central to the new Gray Haven. The mosque, temple and synagogue landmarks stood out amongst the crumbling backdrop like beacons and were indeed exactly the same distance from each other and the centre of the park.

Legolas could barely see it but something was being erected in the middle of the park. Frodo was looking at the park as well as Merry because they, too, sensed that something was going on in the park. A flash of a white jacket between the trees told them who was there.

"Galadriel," said Frodo. "She's overseeing something in there. I heard it was a project she vowed to complete if we won the War."

"Wonder what it is," murmured Merry as he craned his neck to try and get a better look.

Legolas leaned against the ledge and just looked out over the horizon in the east. A full moon was rising directly in front of them though the oncoming dusk and a couple stars blinked at them. The light of the setting sun drenched them in some warmth and cast a long shadow across the trees. Out of the corner of his eye, Legolas saw something odd from the top of the mosque. It shimmered oddly like… ithildin?

"A full moon…" he whispered.

The sun was setting behind him but the full moon's light was shining on him, mingling across the sky with sunlight. He looked down, between his legs, at the stone and chuckled. "Lady Galadriel… you will never cease to amaze me."

Frodo and Merry turned to look at him when he spoke and instead saw faintly shimmering Elvish writing written on the stone in ithildin.

"It's pretty new for it to reflect moonlight this easily," muttered Frodo as he knelt down to look at it. "You think she put this anywhere else?"

"Whatever's in the middle of the park, definitely," said Merry. He was leaning against the ledge with this back to the rising moon. "What does it say?"

Legolas knelt down and read out loud the inscriptions. All of them felt renewed by the power of its message and looked forward to helping the new world change for the better. After the sun disappeared under the horizon and beyond the sea, they went back down to the church square and told the rest of the Fellowship what they saw and the inscription on the stone. They felt their hearts lift when they heard the message and all of them vowed then to always work towards peace and prosperity.

However, the peace they worked towards was bought with a high price. Many of the survivors had lost their families around the world and were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. The Darkness had taken the world in a sudden attack and had left it torn apart and divided.

But the entire world was left with the chance to renew itself and become invigorated by the inscription that was thought to have been written by Galadriel. It inspired all the people that heard its message to bring the Golden Age of Peace that had never happened and spread across the world like the winds.

The Fellowship was honoured and revered across the lands as the Saviours of Light and their stories were passed down the generations and became legends. The spirit of Middle-Earth was reborn through the deeds of the Fellowship and the New Age was ushered in by them.

This Golden Age prospered in balance with nature as humankind set out to repair the damage it did in the past. The world had peace that balanced the war but senseless destruction and hate were kept at bay. As time drew on over the centuries, the race of Humankind finally discovered themselves as the caretakers of their world and it lived with nature and the Earth, nurturing it as well as taking from it.

Out of the ashes of the Past, the Golden Age lived on for centuries and millennia. The Fellowship of the Ring and the Saviours of Light, though known now only as stories and not as fact, still echoed their tale across time and were never forgotten.

It was discovered soon after the Fellowship heard the inscription that Galadriel never etched the poem into the four buildings but she used it so the destruction caused by the Darkness and hatred would never happen again.

Here is what appeared to be handed down from the heavens:

_Here the Heart of Darkness was beating,  
__Here did it sleep.  
__Here the Shadows ruled the lands,  
__Here its control it did keep._

_Nine Warriors of Light and power,  
__Those who fought for the world in the past,  
__Fought and died  
__But Time put over their faces a mask._

_From out of the depths of Time  
__Nine springs of Light were reborn.  
__For years the floated in the world,  
__Waiting for their fates to be formed._

_Piercing the Darkness, they fly  
__With flaming souls, arrows that sing,  
__Axes that thunder  
__And swords that ring._

_With them come Hope,  
__Diligence, Loyalty, Strength, Dependency,  
__Courage, Wisdom, Faith,  
__And Purity of the Soul._

_Together, they stand side by side,  
__Like an eternal chain of honourable links,  
__Since the Beginning of Time  
__To the End of All Things._

The End

* * *

A/N: Look at that, it's finished and almost exactly two years after I first started it, too. Isn't that something? 

Hantas to all! Especially the SJCS readers with codenames Aaron, Marty, Pete! hantas go out to everyone who had the patience to read this fic and special hantas go out to Cloud-123, Tears of Eternal Darkness and Mooncinder!

It's done! It's done! It's done! Oh, god… it's done.

But, I have a little side fanfiction project going on and it explains the dragon-girl, Maikaza. This new fic, The Jade Dragon, is going to take place entirely in Mirkwood with Legolas and a bit of Aragorn but absolutely NO ROMANCE and this fic is going to be under a constant editing process so it'll change slightly over time.

There is little or no romantic interest between Legolas and Kaza! … Unless I get reviews saying I should. But right now, I am not planning any romantic stuff between any characters.

Thanks again for reading my fanfiction _The Search For Darkness_ and I hope to see all you readers again!


	39. Epilogue The Beginning

Epilogue – The Beginning

"SAM! NO!" Frodo watched in despair as Sam fell off his horse and the jaunty creature pranced to the other side of the pasture having stolen Sam's pride and dignity. Grumbling under his breath, he set off to help Sam retrieve his horse.

It was almost six months since the Fellowship had defeated the Dark Master and the world was quietly and slowly starting to heal itself. Without all the luxuries and conveniences of the Old World, as the people now called it, people were beginning to respect nature more and were learning the true meaning of patience.

Frodo, Sam and a few others were trying to learn how to properly ride a horse while Gandalf and Galadriel were enjoying a fine afternoon tea nearby.

"Is there anything finer than drinking a fine cup of tea in the welcoming shade of an aged tree?" Galadriel wondered out loud.

"Not many, I'm sure," Gandalf replied, sipping his own tea. "Have you heard from either Arathorn or Thranduil?"

"Not lately. But I'm sure they're fine." She smiled peacefully but a little mischievously. "They are, after all, Aragorn and Legolas' fathers. No need to worry about them, either."

"Very true." He paused for a moment, wondering if he should disrupt the peace. He went on and said, "I think, after all this business with the Darkness, we've all learned to enjoy the small things that life offers much more than we used to."

"Yes." She, too, paused and looked over the cliff into the park in the middle of the city.

She couldn't see it, but she knew it was there. A tall, flowing sculpture constructed from materials around the city sat in the middle of the park. She had made the structural designs to purposely imitate the cultures of the past. From a distance, it looked like a sculpture of the White Spike of Echthelion. As the viewer came closer, it resembled more closely to a shimmering tree. But at any angle, the landmark would reflect the light of the sun and moon in a mysterious, silver shine. Upon closer inspection, artifacts of the modern past could be seen inside the construct.

_A Tribute to the Past_, the plaque said at the foot of the sculpture. It was also written, "In memory for all those dead and alive who fought and suffered the Darkness in the Past. May this statue serve as a guiding Light for all those who come."

"Who was it?" Galadriel asked, half to the wind, half to Gandalf. "Who or what could have been so powerful to be able to be the Dark Master?"

"I don't believe we'll ever know for sure. It could have been Sauron's doing or it could have been some fool in this Age who played with powers that shouldn't have been meddling with. We may never know."

"It's hard to believe that a single being could bring about such destruction," she sighed. "It's sad."

"A single being with a single emotion. That leads to powerful consequences, indeed. With a single emotion comes a single thought and it obstructs all other thoughts until it is satisfied. If that happens, the mind creates or unlocks abilities that were once impossible to use."

"A powerful concept, Gandalf. It truly is a pity that every being has that ability."

"Yes…" He thought in silence for a few seconds. "Could that be what the Dark Master was?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Could it have been the pure emotion and desire of a single thought? Could it have been the result of hatred and its dire consequences? Could the Dark Master have been nothing but the accumulation of rage, recklessness, hatred, dispiritedness, chaos and all things opposite of all we hold dear for all these years?"

Galadriel was looking at him intently but with a faint expression of worry in her eyes. She reached over and filled his teacup with more tea. "You should relax, Gandalf. It's not healthy for a man your age to worry so much about things in the past. You might have a heart attack."

He looked at the tea and chuckled softly. "Too true, too true." He drank some of his tea and calmed down a bit. "But," he began again and looked her in the eye, "what do you think? Was the Dark Master nothing but a living hatred?"

She looked back at him over the rim of her teacup and smiled. The gentle face of Galadriel, even after so many millennia, rarely revealed anything but serene reassurance.

"As you said, Gandalf," she said as she smiled, "we may never know."

"Just as we may never know if the Darkness will ever rise again to destroy the world."

"You know as well as I do that Darkness is never truly gone from the world as long as there is still Light. What will matter is if those who defend the Light will rise to fight the Darkness."

"They will," Gandalf said confidently. "They always will."

The wind gently flowed over the pasture and waved the grass to them. Over head, the fluffy clouds silently and slowly floated across the pale blue sky. Brilliant shafts of sunlight danced by the sides of the clouds and lit up the vibrant colours of the Earth.

Galadriel gazed at the wonders of creation and smiled, reassured. She raised her teacup to him and he did the same.

"They'll always fight the Darkness," she said.

"And they'll always win," he said and clinked his cup with hers.

"So they shall. Such is the balance of the world."

---

A/N: I was thinking about doing an epilogue but I couldn't think about what to write about until Lady Altaria mentioned a few things that brought them to mind. Hantas to you!

Thanks to all of you again who took the time out of your lives to read _The Search For Darkness_ and those who reviewed in the past!


End file.
